CMS European M&A Study 2018

The CMS European M&A Study 2018 provides insight into the legal provisions of merger & acquisition (M&A) agreements, makes comparisons across Europe and with the US and identifies market trends. CMS analysed private M&A agreements relating to both non-listed public and private companies in Europe for the eleven-year period 2007 – 2017.Our new CMS European M&A Study 2018 covers more than 3,650 deals. We focus on the 438 CMS deals in 2017 and the 2,488 CMS deals in the period 2010 – 2016 by way of comparison.In analysing the 2017 market, we report on current market standards on risk allocation in M&A deals, comparing 2017 against 2016 and the previous seven-year average in 2010 – 2016. The special features of this Study are as follows:

• CMS Trend Index – we provide a CMS Trend Index to illustrate a current fact or trend for the particular feature reported on, comparing the position in 2017 with that of 2016 and / or the seven-year period 2010 – 2016.
• CMS European / US risk allocation comparison – we provide a headline analysis of the differing risk allocation on standard issues in European and US M&A.
• CMS European regional differences – we highlight certain issues which are particular to one or more of the six covered European regions.
• CMS deal size analysis – we have analysed our data against three different deal values: firstly, deals up to EUR 25m; secondly, deals in a value range of EUR 25m to 100m; and thirdly, deals exceeding EUR 100m.
• Tenth Edition: Looking back to 2007 – we reflect on some significant changes in the way that risk is now allocated between sellers and buyers in M&A deals, and also on some significant similarities where the world does not seem to have changed at all.

We are proud to announce that this is the tenth edition of the CMS European M&A Study. This represents a significant body of work which is unique both for its longevity and large deal sample. In this edition, we take the opportunity to look back at how risk allocation in M&A deals has changed in the 2007 – 2017 period and the reasons for such change. We trust that the CMS European M&A Study will assist you in your everyday M&A activities. 

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