Canadian M&As tracked at $155B in 2010, likely to buck global trend in 2011:PwC

By The Canadian Press

"TORONTO - Canadian mergers and acquisitions were worth $155 billion in 2010, while domestic transactions are expected to outpace the global trend in 2011, a report from PwC said.

The company, formerly known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the total of 3001 Canadian deals marked a five year high, and was an increase of more than 30 per cent over 2009.

The report said domestic transactions outpaced the rest of the globe, with the number of transactions and dollar amounts being 25 per cent higher than the previous year.

There was a record number of Chinese acquisitions of Canadian companies last year, but 77 per cent of total acquisitions included Canadian firms acquiring foreign companies.

"While we recognize that certain assets in Canada are highly strategic, on the whole our experience suggests M&A has contributed to the growth—not the demise—of corporate Canada," Kristian Knibutat, PwC's national deals leader said in a statement.

PwC said 2011 will be an "outstanding" year for deal making, with companies looking towards acquisitions as a way to spend trillions of dollars in underutilized capital and surplus cash in a low rate and favourable term environment.

Canada will outpace global trends due to its financial system, the high loonie, and leadership in "hot deal sectors" like energy, materials and finances, the report suggested.

PwC predicts Canadian companies will do more deals in emerging markets, with foreign deals in the Middle East, Asia and Africa becoming the new norm.

Joint ventures and minority acquisitions will be more popular amid higher regulatory oversight of takeovers, in an effort to reduce the economic or political risks of a deal, the report said."

**********************************************************************

Most (speculators and investors) should be able to relate to why an article like this is a good read WRT ISM and it's Langmuir property aka Metal mines. Also of interest should be us as shareholders eventually finding out what the "plan" is for the UMJ share acquistions and how that relates to ISM. IMHO