Israeli M&As fell by 50% during COVID - report

• Author: ZEV STUB
• Published date: 29 December 2020
• Date: 29 December 2020

The report did not include the massive $7 billion acquisition of Israeli chipmaker Mellanox by Nvidia in April, which is considered the third-largest exit in Israeli history. PwC's methodology excludes deals above $5 billion because they tend to distort averages and total sums.

"The response of global markets to the pandemic was even sharper and faster than during the great recession a decade earlier," the report said. "However, there is an expectation that we will recover from the crisis faster than in 2008, as is already being seen in global markets."

The data shows a clear progression of the market's decline, PwC said. M&A activity stayed on a growth trend during the first half of the year, but dropped by 50% starting in the third quarter. Notably, acquisitions by foreign investors remained on track in the first six months of 2020, but tapered off in Q3, when only six deals were made, from an average of 20 in previous years.

Besides the Mellanox deal, the largest deals of the year were Israel Electric's sale of its Ramat Hovav power plant for $1.2b.; the $1.2b. acquisition of medical laser company Lumenis, and the $1.1b. purchase of cybersecurity firm Checkmarx.

More than half of the deals in 2020 were in hi-tech (5.1b.), followed by the energy ($1.8b.) and food ($1.6b.) sectors.

Of all deals, 30% were worth more than $100 million, while 70% were worth less than...