PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Deal activity in the Australian resources sector declined by 26.76% in the first quarter, new figures from GlobalData have shown.
A total of 65 deals worth $183.92-million were announced in the first quarter of 2021, led by the $46.09-million acquisition of Paterson Copper, compared with the last four-quarter average of 88.75 deals.
GlobalData noted that merger and acquisition (M&A) was the leading category in the quarter with 62 deals, which accounted for 95.4% of all deals.
In second place was private equity with two deals, followed by venture financing with one transaction, respectively accounting for 3.1% and 1.5% of overall deal activity in the Australia’s metals and mining industry during the quarter.
In terms of value of deals, M&A was the leading deal category in Australia’s metals and mining industry with total deals worth $160.05-million, while private equity and venture financing deals totalled $23.28-million and $0.59-million, respectively.
The top five metals and mining industry deals accounted for 59.9% of the overall value during the first quarter of 2021.
The combined value of the top five metals and mining deals stood at $110.25-million, against the overall value of $183.92-million recorded for the quarter, GlobalData noted.
The top five metals and mining industry deals of the first quarter tracked by GlobalData were Cyprium Metals’ $46.09-million acquisition of Paterson Copper, the $23.28-million private equity deal with Newcrest Mining by Allan Gray Australia and Orbis Investment Management, Northern Star’s $13.94-million asset transaction with Shannon Resources, the $13.63-million acquisition deal with Big River Gold by Dundee, and Red Emperor Resources’ asset transaction with Great Northern Palladium for $13.31-million.