The German M&A market has remained robust in 2017.  While the number of transactions has fallen, transaction volumes remain significant.  Testament to this were the agreed merger of Siemens’ rail operations with Alstom, the acquisition of Bayer’s seeds and herbicides business by BASF, the Stada takeover, General Motors’ sale of Opel to PSA or the merger between Linde and Praxair, which finally appears to be nearing a successful conclusion.  The steel JV between ThyssenKrupp and Tata is still in the works, as is the takeover of Uniper by Fortum.  However, yet another attempt at a London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse merger failed in 2017.

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