S&P Global to acquire IHS Markit in the biggest deal of the year, Salesforce to buy Slack; A look at top deals in 2020

American cloud-based software company, Salesforce.com Inc announced on December 1 that it is acquiring Slack, a workforce chat platform, for $27.7 billion. The deal is one of the biggest M&A deals so far in the year 2020. In an announcement accompanying the firm's third-quarter earnings release, Salesforce said it will offer Slack shareholders $26.79 in cash and nearly 0.08 Salesforce shares for each share of Slack they own, representing an enterprise value of $27.7 billion (or $45.54 per Slack share) based on November 30’s market close. The enterprise cloud giant, Salesforce, along with Slack aims to shape the future of enterprise software and transform the way everyone works in the all-digital, work-from-home-anywhere world.

Earlier, data giant S&P Global also announced its acquisition of IHS Markit in a deal worth $44 billion - the biggest deal of the year. The move marks the latest consolidation among firms providing financial data and analytics as competition heats up amid challenges to firms like Bloomberg and Refinitiv. Once the deal is completed, S&P Global will own around 67.75 percent of the combine group, with IHS shareholders receiving 0.2838 share of S&P Global common stock.

According to S&P Global, Q3 global transaction value declined 53.2 percent year-over-year (YoY) and the number of M&A (merger and acquisition) deals declined 29.1 percent amid the global coronavirus pandemic, indicating that investors are hesitant to complete bigger deals. Q3 transaction value declined nearly 31 percent versus Q2 as economic and societal uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic continued to disrupt the global economy. Let’s take a look at top global deals of the quarter listed by S&P Global Market Intelligence, as on October 6, 2020. (Image: Reuters)

Target name: Thyssenkrupp Elevator | Target country (HQ): Germany | Buyers: Advent International, Cinven Limited, Others | Buyer country: Multiple | Target sector: Industrials | Transaction value: $18.9 billion (Image: Reuters)

Target name: Caesars Holdings | Target country (HQ): United States | Buyer: Caesars Entertainment | Buyer country: United States | Target sector: Consumer Discretionary | Transaction value: $18.8 billion

Target name: Ellie Mae | Target country (HQ): United States | Buyer: Intercontinental Exchange | Buyer country: United States | Target sector: Information technology | Transaction value: $11 billion (Image: Getty Images)

Target name: 58.com | Target country (HQ): China | Buyers: Ocean Link, Warburg Pincus Asian, Others | Buyer country: Multiple | Target sector: Communication services | Transaction value: $9.7 billion

Target name: Hitachi ABB Power Grids | Target country (HQ): Switzerland | Buyers: Hitachi | Buyer country: Japan | Target sector: Industrials | Transaction value: $9.4 billion (Image: Reuters)

Target name: Bayer Animal Health | Target country (HQ): Germany | Buyers: Elanco Animal Health | Buyer country: United States | Target sector: Healthcare | Transaction value: $7.3 billion (Image: Reuters)

Target name: Guangxi Construction Engineering Group | Target country (HQ): China | Buyers: Greenland Holdings | Buyer country: China | Target sector: Industrials | Transaction value: $7.3 billion (Image: gxya.com.cn)

Target name: SINOPEC Pipeline Storage and Transportation, Additional Pipeline Stakes | Target country (HQ): China | Buyers: China Oil & Gas Pipeline Network | Buyer country: United States | Target sector: Energy | Transaction value: $6.7 billion (Image: Reuters)