ANALYSIS: All-Cash M&A Deals Are Getting Pandemic Boost

After a full year of pandemic-era M&A activity, the visible uptick in the proportion of all-cash deal volume is a trend to note. Despite the strains on businesses in 2020, all-cash deals comprised 73% of all completed deal volume last year—the highest percentage for any year since 2012, and the second-highest going at least as far back as 2007.

$1.6 trillion in all-cash deals announced in 2020 have reached completion. And it’s worth mentioning that, of this $1.6 trillion in all-cash deal volume, $746.4 billion (47%) was comprised of deals involving private equity parties. This means that private equity had ...