The UK technology industry saw a rise of 22.4% in overall deal activity during Q4 2020, when compared with the last four-quarter average, according to GlobalData’s deals database.

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A total of 431 deals worth $69.85bn were announced in Q4 2020, compared to the last four-quarter average of 352 deals.

Venture financing was the leading category in the quarter with 223 deals which accounted for 51.7% of all deals.

In second place was M&A with 159 deals, followed by private equity with 49 transactions, respectively accounting for 36.9% and 11.4% of overall deal activity in the country’s technology industry during the quarter.

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In terms of value of deals, M&A was the leading deal category in the UK technology industry with total deals worth $60bn, while private equity and venture financing deals totalled $7.41bn and $2.44bn, respectively.

The UK technology industry deals in Q4 2020: Top deals

The top five technology deals accounted for 89.1% of the overall value during Q4 2020.

The combined value of the top five technology deals stood at $62.22bn, against the overall value of $69.85bn recorded for the quarter.

The top five technology industry deals of Q4 2020 tracked by GlobalData were:

1) S&P Global’s $44bn acquisition of IHS Markit

2) The $11.69bn asset transaction with CK Hutchison Holdings by Cellnex Telecom

3) Advent International and James M. Peck’s $2.7bn private equity deal with Nielsen

4) The $2.38bn private equity deal with Talktalk Telecom Group by Toscafund Asset Management

5) Concorde Bidco and Francisco Partners’ private equity deal with CDK Global Holdings (UK) for $1.45bn.

Verdict deals analysis methodology

This analysis considers only announced and completed deals from the GlobalData financial deals database and excludes all terminated and rumoured deals. Country and industry are defined according to the headquarters and dominant industry of the target firm. The term ‘acquisition’ refers to both completed deals and those in the bidding stage.

GlobalData tracks real-time data concerning all merger and acquisition, private equity/venture capital and asset transaction activity around the world from thousands of company websites and other reliable sources.

More in-depth reports and analysis on all reported deals are available for subscribers to GlobalData’s deals database.