M&A activity was up 3% y-o-y in 2024, led by Emirati and Saudi sovereign wealth funds

The MENA region saw 701 M&A transactions last year, totaling USD 92.3 bn, with the GCC accounting for the bulk of activity, with 580 transactions totaling USD 90 bn, according to EY’s latest MENA M&A insights report. This marks a 3% increase in transaction count and a 7% rise in value y-o-y, likely fueled by capital market reforms, policy shifts, and growing interest from foreign investors, the report reads.

Emirati and Saudi sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) remained the key drivers of dealflow in the region, with Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment (along with two USA-based PE firms) clinching the heftiest cash-based M&A last year, in the acquisition of an 80% stake in USA-based fifth largest ins. player Truist Ins. USD 12.4 bn in February 2024. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) and Mubadala were also part of a consortium that acquired a 60% stake in China’s Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management Group for USD 8.3 bn, estimated to be the region’s third largest transaction last year.

Cross-border transactions topped the M&A league table, making up 52% of the total volume, and 74% of the total value of transactions.

Meanwhile, domestic M&As accounted for 48% of total activity in the region last year with 339 transactions worth USD 24.4 bn, up only slightly from 333 in 2023. Technology and consumer products led the charge, accounting for a combined 35% of the total domestic count.

Outbound investments accounted for the lion’s share of total consolidated transaction value (61%) with 199 transactions worth USD 56.6 bn.

Inbound investments totaled USD 11.4 bn, up 42% y-o-y, across 143 transactions, up 18% y-o-y.

KSA + UAE captured the bulk of inbound + total M&As: The UAE stood out as the foreign investors’ preferred M&A market in the region, locking in the highest count (96) of inbound transactions, and the highest value (USD 7.6 bn), at around 67% of the total. Combined, the UAE and Saudi Arabia were home to 318 M&A transactions worth a total of USD 29.6 bn last year.

The US was the biggest bidder into the MENA region last year, logging 48 transactions worth USD 4.6 bn. The capital flowed both ways, with MENA investors also making the US their prime destination in 2024, with 41 M&As valued at USD 19.9 bn.

The technology sector led inbound investments in the region last year, accounting for 23% of total inbound and domestic deal-volume. The UAE’s tech sector alone captured 35 transactions.