Strong recovery of Swiss M&A activity with an outstanding Q4 2024
Winfried Weigel
corporate development, business development, Corporate Finance, Capital Markets, Mergers & Acquisitions, restructurings, change management, interim management, IPO, coach, startup advisor, Private Equity, Venture Capital
Swiss M&A is back on track for further growth based on an incredible increase in Deal Value and number of transactions in Q4 2024.
Swiss M&A Statistics
The aggregated Swiss M&A market including Swiss targets, Swiss acquirors and Swiss sellers 2024 had an aggregated net Deal Value (no double counting of transactions) of CHF 107 billion (bn), resulting from approx. 460 deals with disclosed DV. This is an substantial increase from the CHF71.5bn reported for 2023, both in terms of aggregated deal value and in terms of transactions, overall and deals with revealed transaction values. However, we have not verified all deals as to whether they fulfill our strict M&A deal criteria. We do this together underneath and summarize the top 25 “Swiss” transactions 2024, even a substantial no. does not meet our strict M&A criteria (pl see and compare with earlier publications in LinkedIn).
According to mergermarket, the total transaction value for M&A in Switzerland 2024 was CHF 28.5bn, resulting from 106 acquisitions with a disclosed deal values. The total no. of observed M&A Deals in Switzerland was 409. 60 of the 106 transactions with disclosed deal value, worth a total of CHF 25.2bn were foreign acquisitions. The remaining 46 domestic M&A deals (target and buyer is Swiss) with revealed deal values only accounted for CHF 3.3bn which is less 1/8 of the total DV. Overall, the total no. of observed M&A deals in Switzerland included 155 Swiss acquisitions vs. 254 foreign acquisitions. The average deal value of the deals with revealed DV was almost six times the value for foreign acquisitions (CHF 420mn per deal) compared to domestic acquisitions (71.7mn per deal). A total of 20 M&A Deals had Buyer, Target and Seller from Switzerland, thereof 6 with revealed DV and a total DV of only 920 mn.
The Swiss foreign M&A market (Swiss buyers) was far bigger with a total of 736 registered foreign acquisitions, thereof 317 with DV disclosed, and a total DV of CHF 68.5bn. By far the largest target market were the USA with an aggregated DV of CHF 36.9 bn resulting from 84 transactions, followed by Germany with CHF 12.5bn DV from 40 acquisitions and Italy with CHF 10.8bn from 14 acquisitions with revealed DV. The largest foreign acquisition in 2024 was the Swisscom takeover of Vodafone`s Italian operations for CHF 7.6bn (see detailed analysis in my earlier publication at announcement). UK, France and India follow with CHF 3.5bn, CHF 1.8bn and CHF 1.2bn DV respectively.
Foreign divestitures to non-Swiss acquirors added approximately another net CHF10bn in DV. In total, 134 foreign divestitures by Swiss sellers were registered, thereof 41 with disclosed DV (a few with Swiss acquirors). 29 divestitures in Germany, thereof 6 with revealed DVs with a total DV of 8.2bn which was the largest foreign divestiture market for Swiss sellers, followed by the UK with 4 divestitures worth CHF 2.2bn and the USA with 6 divestitures worth CHF 1.8bn. These numbers could include sales to Swiss acquirors.
Top 25 Swiss Transactions 2024
Ten of the top 25 deals 2024 were announced in Q4 2024, including the by far largest transaction and Deal No. 4, 6 and 8. These four deals alone account for at least CHF 26.5 bn Deal Value.
The largest M&A Deal was announced on 19th Nov by Switzerland based acquiror Amcor plc. and the target US peer Berry Global, the USD 8.43bn all share takeover, resulting in $23bn consumer & healthcare packaging group under the name of Arcor and 63% owned by former Amcor shareholders. The shareholders of both companies will vote in 25 Feb, 2025, on the merger. Joint Proxy Statements of both companies have been filed with the SEC. Berry Global’s net debt as reported in the 3rd quarter was $7.2bn.
The second largest Swiss Deal 2025 was the CHF 3.4bn Sunrise Communications spin-off from Liberty Global Ltd. with a new listing at the Swiss Stock Exchange. The enterprise value (equity plus assumed debt) of Sunrise at that time was CHF 8.3bn. However, seller was Liberty Global and recipients were Liberty Global`s shareholders, with the key shareholders (including its founder and chairman) keeping control of Sunrise with Class B shares having 10 times the votes of Class A shares, no change of control.
The third largest transaction and second foreign Swiss strategic acquisition was the CHF7.6bn takeover of Vodafone plc`s Italian operations (see detailed review in a previous LI article).
The fourth largest Swiss Deal and 3rd largest Swiss M&A deal was a Secondary PE transaction with a Swiss Seller. Partners Group and two large Canadian institutional investors exited its investment in German power meter operator Techem GmbH for €6.7bn to private equity investors TPG Climate Funds and GIC. TPG and Techem confirm a total consideration (Gesamtwert der Transaktion) of (approx.) €6.7bn and an acquisition price payable in two instalment but did not specify the acquisition price. Rating agency Fitch confirmed its B rating with a stable outlook and mentioned an acquisition price of €3.9bn.
The fifth largest Swiss Deal and largest acquisition of a Swiss target, although not in Switzerland but between an US PE investor and a US strategic acquiror was the $3.9bn acquisition of Swiss metal packaging supplier Eviosys Packaging Switzerland GmbH (previously Crown Holdings`Europe) by the US metal packaging group Sonoco Products company from KPS Capital Partners. Eviosys has 44 facilities in 17 countries. Crown reported that it will receive aprrox. $300mn in net cash proceeds from the transaction. Again in a Fitch Rating Report The acquisition price was mentioned to be €3.6bn on a cash-free and debt-free basis.
The next four Swiss Deals were all done by Novartis as an acquiror, two acquisitions in the USA, one public takeover in Germany and one acquisition in Switzerland for a total consideration of CHF 8.6bn. However, the acquisition in Switzerland and one acquisition in the USA (both in Q4) were licence and product rights deals, not M&A transactions. The largest Novartis deal was a $2.9bn acquisition of the PTC518 Huntington`s disease program from the US based biopharmaceutical developer PTC Therapeutics Inc., $1bn paid in cash and a further $1.9bn as milestone payments for development and regulatory expenses.The CHF2bn Swiss deal is a license and development deal for the development of small molecules to degrade disease-related proteins that was entered into with USA based Monte Rosa Therapeutics. The consideration was only $150mn but Monte Rosa Therapeutics may receive up to $2.1bn in development, regulatory and sales milestone payments. The largest Novartis M&A deal was the €2.6bn public takeover of MorphoSys AG in Germany announce in Feb 2024. On 19 December Novartis launched a delisting offer to all remaining shareholders and decided to dislove the company and fully integrate it into Novartis. The net debt of MorphoSys stood at approx. $600mn at the beginning of last year and decreased by midyear 2024 to approx. $400mn. Midyear, Novartis acquired the USA based radiopharmaceutical company Mariana Oncology Inc. for a total consideration of $1.75bn, thereof $1bn in cash at closing and $750mn payable as earn-out. This was an exit by US VC company Atlas Ventures and co-investors.
Swiss Deal no. 10 in 2024 was a foreign acquisition in Switzerland by a strategic buyer, Lòreal S.A. from various international PE investors including EQT and ADIA, but it was only a 10% stake in Galderma Group for $1.85bn, therefor a financial stake and not a M&A Deal. As such, the consideration does not assume net debt of Galderma.
Deal No. 11 was a 27.6% Squeeze-out of minority shareholders in a Hongkong listed subsidiary by the Swiss natural and organic ingredient-based cosmetics company L`Occitane Group S.A. for $1.8bn. The offer was successful and De-listing of the shares occurred in September. Again, this is not considered as a M&A transaction as it is no change of control.
Interesting is also Deal No. 12 by Partners Group as an acquiror in the USA for a consideration of $1.9bn into a data center developer and operator. However, Seller and the Target are the same and the stake and financial details are not disclosed. It looks like a funding deal for the further roll-out of the company`s activities.
You see the 25 largest transactions with Swiss participations in 2024 in Table 1.
The known considerations for the acquired shares, product rights, financial investments and production facilities adds up to CHF 52.5bn. However, we have to exclude ten deals that are not M&A Deals with a consideration of CHF17.3bn. On the other side we may add a further CHF 8bn assumed debt for the eight M&A transaction.
Novartis was certainly the most active strategic Swiss investor, although the largest foreign and overall investors were Amcor followed by Swisscom. We further see the strategic investors (all abroad) Vitol Group, Roche Holding, MSC Shipping, Lonza (US production facilities from Roche), and Software One (foreign ownership).
Of the largest 25 Deals 2024 we only saw 5 PE Deals, the biggest one was the Techem Secondary, ?and one investment, the US data center investment by Partners Group. We saw three exits by PE investors, two VC exits and one 10% PE divestiture by a group of PEs. The largest domestic M&A deal was the CHF1bn takeover of a 49% stake in Coop Mineraloel AG from the British fuel distributor and wholesaler Philipps 66 Ltd. by an unnamed new Swiss JV partner. We included the deal as M&A transaction although there was no change of control and it may be a pure financial investment.
Outlook 2025
The Swiss M&A recovered for the first time in three years and has further potential to close the gap to the 2021 records:
These are strong credentials for further growth of Swiss M&A activities, both in Switzerland and for further Swiss acquisitions abroad.
External growth is cheaper and quicker than organic growth, and transformation is far easier and quicker to implement with M&A.
In case of questions or comments please do not hesitate to contact me.
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