The UK has emerged as the second most targeted nation after the US for merger and acquisition deals, accounting for transactions worth $56.3 billion so far this year driven primarily by domestic M&A activity.
"United Kingdom is the second most targeted nation for global M&A in 2009 YTD, with USD 56.3 billion via 806 deals, accounting for 6.3 per cent of global M&A activity, behind the United States which accounts for 36.8 per cent," according to deal tracking firm Dealogic.
The global M&A deal tally has reached over $893 billion so far this year.
The flurry in M&A activity in UK's domestic market saw an 87 per cent upsurge in deal value so far this year, against 56 per cent in the year-ago period.
The value of UK-targeted M&A deals stood at $324 million via 2,851 transactions in 2008, accounting for 10 per cent of global deals in value terms, Dealogic said.
Citi leads the M&A advisory ranking for UK M&A with $38.3 billion, followed by Credit Suisse with $35.6 billion and UBS with $34.7 billion YTD, the report stated.
The top five M&A deals in the UK include the UK government taking 77 per cent stake in Lloyds Banking Group for $22.12 billion. The second most valued deal was the UK government acquiring stake in Royal Bank of Scotland Group for $9.38 billion.
The other major deals in the UK M&A space are UK-based Centrica acquiring stake in Lake Acquisitions for $3.49 billion, followed by US-based Fortress Investment Corporation acquiring stake Mapeley for $2.03 billion.
Meanwhile in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan replaced China to lead the pack as the most targeted nation in terms of M&A activity with the US companies shifting its investment focus to the country.
"The US is the most active investor in Japanese companies with $2.7 billion via 32 deals, accounting for 70 per cent of total inbound cross border M&A," Dealogic said.
In the first quarter of 2009, global completed M&A volume reached $482 billion, down 42 per cent from $829.3billion in 2008.
