On October 22, 2016, AT&T announced a $107.7bn bid ($85.7bn ex debt) to acquire media and entertainment company Time Warner, making it the largest M&A deal so far in 2016.
Transaction Details
Target: Time Warner
Target nationality: United States
Target advisors: Allen & Co; Morgan Stanley; and Citi
Acquiror: AT&T
Acquiror nationality: United States
Acquiror advisors: Pierce, Fenner & Smith; Perella Weinberg Partners; JPMorgan; Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Deal value $bn: 107.7
Deal value $bn (ex debt): 85.7
Key Points
- Second largest media targeted M&A deal on record globally, behind the $112.1bn acquisition of Time Warner by America Online in January 2000. Also the seventh largest M&A deal on record globally across all sectors, and the fifth biggest US targeted transaction on record
- The second $100bn+ M&A deal announced in the last 13 months, following the $133.4bn completed acquisition of SABMiller by Anheuser-Busch InBev in October 2015, the second biggest M&A deal on record
- A $40.0bn term loan has been signed by AT&T to help finance the transaction, the second biggest US syndicated loan on record, behind the $61.0bn acquisition related bridge facility signed by Verizon Communications in September 2013
- Led by the AT&T/Time Warner deal, global M&A volume totals $2.92tr so far this year, a 22% drop from the same point in 2015 ($3.73tr). 2016 volume, however, is still the fourth highest YTD total on record, behind 2015, 2007 ($3.80tr), and 2006 ($3.03tr)
- With an acquiror advisor role on the AT&T/Time Warner deal, JPMorgan leads the US M&A advisor ranking in 2016 YTD, followed by Morgan Stanley, an advisor to Time Warner. Goldman Sachs leads the global M&A ranking in 2016 YTD