This quarter was marked by increasing uncertainty in the merger and acquisition market by the Euro crisis and the economic / fiscal problems in the U.S. Still a few surprising planned mega deals, but larger and medium-sized deals are postponed. Smaller acquisitions however with a solid strategic focus on growth have been undiminished.

The relatively high dynamics in the ICT sector ensures that the market for mergers and acquisitions is less affected than in other markets. The market remains in motion. Companies like Google continue to be acquisitive... .. as do other top worldwide players such as Apple, HP, IBM, Oracle and Microsoft. Their acquisition funds are still packed.

The acquisitions are largely dictated by cloud computing and mobile developments.

Large international media agencies are also very acquisitive and are constantly presenting themselves in the press for everybody to know. They invest in particular in the digitization of their media and advertising business.

Japanese global corporations like Canon, Hitachi, Toshiba, Sony and NTT need to play in the takeover game, partly because their home markets have reached saturation and their competitive position in the world is affected by the expensive yen. They are not standing still and are consolidating and merging with each other and regularly acquiring IT companies whose products are complementary or IT service companies that help their products to the European and North American market.

And we must not forget the now rapidly growing players in the emerging economies such as Korea (LG, Samsung, designing, manufacturing and exporting everything), India (IT services, outsourcing), China (mostly design, manufacture and export of ICT products), and Brazil (mostly export of IT products and services in their region South America).

They selectively acquire companies in Europe and the U.S. The Chinese are trying to buy their way in the telecommunications technology world through companies like Huawei but run into national security interests of their foreign competitors.

The crisis is not global, but mainly focused on the U.S. and Europe, which creates uncertainty and restraint. Smaller deals and longer deal cycles have been a direct consequence. Besides strategic partners with cash, there are also the private equity parties who have enough money to pick the best deals in the market, but without the help of banks like a few years back.

So, M&A remains on the agenda, also to facilitate in bankruptcies, restarts and divestments due to more focus on core activities.