As per a new report from EY, the number of publicly disclosed M&A deals in the UK insurance industry increased from 54 in H1 2023 to 94 in H1 2024, while the overall disclosed deal value climbed from £400 million to £900 million.
This information comes as part of EY’s latest financial services M&A analysis, which revealed that UK banks, insurers and asset managers publicly disclosed 175 deals between January and July this year, the highest half-year volume in more than a decade.
The total disclosed deal value for the UK financial services industry in H1 also increased year-on-year, rising from £5 billion in H1 2023 to £6.9 billion in H1 2024.
The number of publicly disclosed UK banking deals reportedly decreased from 39 in H1 2023 to 34 in H1 2024, while the overall disclosed deal value rose from £3.2 billion in H1 2023 to £5.5 billion in H1 2024.
At the same time, the number of publicly disclosed deals in the UK wealth and asset management industry fell from 66 in H1 2023 to 47 in H1 2024 and overall disclosed deal value more than halved from £1.5 billion in H1 2023 to £500 million in H1 2024.
According to EY’s report, the number of non-UK firms acquiring UK targets rose from 28 in H1 2023 to 34 in H1 2024, although the total disclosed deal value decreased from £3.1 billion in H1 2023 to £1 billion in H1 2024.
“UK firms acquiring overseas targets increased from 34 in H1 2023 to 48 in H1 2024, and overall disclosed deal value rose from £200 million in H1 2023 to £1.3 billion in H1 2024,” EY added.
Tom Groom, UK Financial Services Strategy and Transactions Leader at EY, commented, “Signs of economic recovery in the UK have lifted market confidence, and the UK financial services industry recorded its highest half-year volume of M&A activity in over a decade.
“While short-term increases in deal volume and value are important to track, taking a longer-term view of activity is critical to understand the bigger picture.
“While deal volume has picked up so far this year – albeit at lower values on average – ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and a change in government could create further headwinds.
“However, provided the economic outlook continues to improve, we anticipate M&A activity will increase – both in volume and value – further throughout 2024 as firms accelerate plans to innovate and grow in the strengthening environment.”
