Annual Turkish M&A Review 2020

In a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, global M&A activity slowed down in the first half of 2020 due to lock downs, travel bans and uncertainties where many large deals have been canceled or delayed. Although the deal making activity has picked up in the second half of the year, the uncertainties remain in the global economy.

Following an initial pause in M&A deals at the start of the pandemic, the Turkish M&A activity showed signs of a notable recovery since June where the national lockdown was lifted and deal making activity outperformed expectations. 304 deals have been recorded in Turkey with a total deal value of US$9.0 billion. While significantly down on historical levels, volumes are higher than had been expected. Turkish M&A broke a new record this year by exceeding 300 transactions in a year for the first time. Out of 304 deals, 133 had a disclosed value adding up to c. US$6.3 billion. Considering the estimated value of deals with undisclosed values, we estimate that total M&A volume was around US$9.0 billion, corresponding to a growth of 70% y-o-y (2019 – c. US$5.3 billion via 233).