The Cayman Islands remained the busiest jurisdiction for offshore M&A transactions in 2016, recording about one-third of all deals and total deal value, according to a report released today by offshore law firm Appleby.
The latest edition of Offshore-i, an Appleby report that provides data and insight on merger and acquisition activity in the major offshore financial centres, focuses on transactions announced over the course of 2016. With the volume and value of deals down from 2015, the report found 2016 marked a return to business as usual as transactions reset to levels familiar before the 2015 outlier.
“Cayman remained the leader in offshore deal volume and value in 2016, accounting for the largest portion of the year’s offshore deal activity and four of the year’s 10 largest offshore deals,” said Simon Raftopoulos, partner and group head of Appleby’s private equity practice in the Cayman Islands. “While the year saw a drop-off from record highs of 2015 across offshore jurisdictions, many of the key drivers of a healthy dealmaking environment remain going into 2017.”
Over the course of 2016, Cayman-incorporated companies were the target of 920 transactions worth a combined $84 billion, representing 36 percent of total offshore deal value. The final number of transactions represented a slight drop from the previous year’s total of 1,013, while showing an increase from 2014’s count of 907 total deals.
Cayman Islands, M&A, Appleby, Report, Simon Raftopoulos
