US Power Industry Sees a Drop of 4.1% in Deal Activity in December 2019

The US power industry saw a drop of 4.1 percent in overall deal activity during December 2019, when compared with the last 12-month average

The US power industry saw a drop of 4.1 percent in overall deal activity during December 2019, when compared with the last 12-month average, according to GlobalData’s deals database. A total of 47 deals worth USD 6.65  billion were announced in December 2019, compared to the 12-month average of 49 deals.

M&A was the leading category in the month in terms of volume with 31 deals which accounted for 66 percent of all deals.

In second place was venture financing with 12 deals, followed by private equity with four transactions, respectively accounting for 25.5 percent and 8.5 percent of overall deal activity in the country’s power industry during the month.

In terms of the value of deals, M&A was the leading deal category in the US power industry with total deals worth USD 5.16  billion, while private equity and venture financing deals totalled USD 1.39  billion and USD 105.78 million, respectively.

The top five power industry deals accounted for 93.4 percent of the overall value during December 2019. The combined value of the top five power deals stood at USD 6.21  billion, against the overall value of USD 6.65  billion recorded for the month.

The top five deals of the month were:

1. WESCO International’s USD 4.52  billion acquisition of Anixter International
2. The USD 1.3 billion private equity deal with Rivian Automotive by Amazon.com, BlackRock, Ford Motor and T Rowe Price Associates
3. Clearway Energy’s USD 184 million asset transaction with Global Infrastructure Partners III
4. The USD 110 million acquisition of Primary Energy Recycling by SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust
5. DTE Energy Services’ asset transaction with Marina Energy for USD 100 million.

In December 2019, we had reported that the North America solar technology tenders in the third quarter of 2019 saw 20 tenders announced, marking a drop of 67 percent over the last four-quarter average of 61 percent. The US was the top country in the North America region for solar technology tenders recorded in the third quarter of 2019 with 12 tenders and a 60 percent share, followed by Canada with eight tenders and a 40 percent share.