KPMG’s Tom Franks: Global M&A Appetite ‘Remains Strong’

KPMG has released the firm’s latest mergers and acquisitions global trends report that indicates M&A deals rose 26 percent between January and June of 2014.

Tom Franks, global head of corporate finance at KPMG, said Thursday that “appetite for M&A deals remains strong, capacity is going up and we are starting to see an increasing number of deals being announced.”

KPMG’s new Global M&A Predictor showed that Europe’s predicted forward price-earnings ratios have increased 24 percent from a year ago while earnings expectations for Japan decreased 11 percent from January to June of 2014.

The telecoms, utilities and energy industries have seen high levels of M&A appetite while the consumer discretionary and consumer staples sectors recorded the least appetite over the past year, KPMG says.

M&A appetite in India rose 10 percent during the first half of 2014.

KPMG said the overall number of completed M&A deals fell by 2 percent between January and June of 2014.