Deal activity in the Middle East and Africa fell 25.7% year-on-year (YoY) between January and November 2023, London-based GlobalData said in a new report. 

Overall, global deal activity declined 23.6% YoY due to macroeconomic challenges and persistent geopolitical tensions, it added.

A total of 48,953 deals, which included mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity and venture financing, were concluded during January-November 2023, compared to 64,092 deals a year ago.

All deal types recorded a substantial YoY decline during the period, the data and analytics firm said.

M&A deals declined by 16.3% YoY, while the volume of private equity and venture financing deals fell by 28.4% and 32.5% YoY, respectively.

“The prevailing macroeconomic challenges and ongoing geopolitical tensions in 2023 are significantly influencing sentiments in deal-making. This impact is observed uniformly across all regions and in most key markets,” stated Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData. 

North America, which accounted for the most deals among all the regions, witnessed a 28.6% decline YoY. 

Europe, Asia-Pacific and South and Central America witnessed the deals volume decline by 19.4%, 18.8%, and 30.6%, respectively. 

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com)