Mexico's M&A activity picks up in January

M&A activity in Mexico increased 752% in January compared to the same month last year, with private equity deals accounting for the lion's share.

Largely picking up where 2014 left, M&A volume reached US$8.85bn in the month with 22 deals either announced or closed, down from 25 in January 2014, data firm Transactional Track Record (TTR) said in a report.

M&A volume was US$4.86bn in November and US$6.09bn in December.

Telecommunications, real estate and "construction, materials and machinery" all saw four M&A deals each last month.

US-based companies took part in three deals in Mexico for total volume of US$4.37bn, followed by Australian and Spanish firms with one each.

AT&T's US$2.5bn acquisition of Mexican mobile operator Iusacell was TTR's deal of the month, while other major transactions included Mexican holding group CCM's sale for US$2.61bn of stores to local retailer Tiendas Soriana and AT&T's US$1.87bn purchase of telco Nextel México.