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Chemical industry M&A worldwide - statistics & facts

Merger and acquisition activity within the global chemicals industry is very active. Though the terms merger and acquisition (M&A) are often used interchangeably, they refer to different company consolidation processes. A merger refers to a combining of two companies to form a new company, while an acquisition, also sometimes referred to as a hostile takeover, is the purchase of one company by another. The total global value of M&A activity across all sectors was some 5.9 trillion U.S. dollars in 2021. In comparison, the total value of chemical industry M&A activity worldwide that year was 105 billion U.S. dollars. That value was attributable to a total of 1,251 chemical M&A deals worldwide in 2021. In a comparison of M&A deal volume by industry worldwide, the chemicals sector ranked twelfth as of 2019.

Chemical M&A: which chemical subsectors and regions are the most active?

Commodity chemicals were by far the leading chemical subsector in 2021 based on the chemical M&A deal volume. At 401 deals worldwide in 2021, commodity chemicals had approximately twice as many targeted deals as specialty chemicals, which had the second-largest number of deals that year, at 202. Regionally, the United States had the most chemical industry deals in 2021, at 232. China had the second-largest volume of chemical M&A deals on a country basis that year, at 70.

Which are the main chemical companies involved in M&A activity?

Several high-profile chemical M&A deals have been completed in recent years, such as Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto (completed in 2018), and the merger of Dow and DuPont (completed in 2017). Since the DowDuPont merger the conglomerate has split into three companies: Dow, DuPont, and agricultural chemical newcomer, Corteva. The largest chemical deal announced in 2021 was Shanghai Zhongyida's acquisition of Wengfu Group for 6.6 billion U.S. dollars.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Feb 9, 2023

Key insights

Global chemical industry revenue
4.73tr USD
Leading global chemical company based on revenue
BASF
Leading global chemical company based on market cap
Linde
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Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Total value of global chemical merger and acquisition deals from 2010 to 2021 (in billion U.S. dollars)

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Value of deals in chemical sector M&As 2010-2021

Number of global chemical merger and acquisition deals from 2010 to 2021

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Number of deals in chemical sector M&As 2010-2021

Value of selected chemical industry deals worldwide announced and completed in 2021 (in billion U.S. dollars)

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Announced and completed chemical industry deals by value worldwide 2021

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