Asset managers made fewer real asset acquisitions year-over-year in Europe in the third quarter of 2020, but deal activity increased from the lows of the second quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent report by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The volume of real asset acquisitions made by listed and unlisted European asset managers dropped 11.3 percent to 267 deals during the third quarter, compared with 301 transactions during the same period in 2019, according to data found in the report.
Announced transaction value plummeted 40.9 percent to €10.69 billion ($11.8 billion) year-over-year from €18.07 billion ($21 billion) in the 2019 third quarter, but the figures soared 61.2 percent compared with the second quarter’s €4.15 billion ($5 billion) across 180 announced deals.
Private equity fund managers have increasingly focused on European real assets in recent years, with infrastructure assets topping their buy lists. A total of 116