Nine new merger and acquisition (M&A) plans with potential worth of well over $12.4 billion have been announced by companies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), according to Regional Press Network (RPN)’s DealFlow Monitor. The largest imminent M&A transaction is a sale of telecommunications assets by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holdings to South African MTN. Gulf Cooperation Council countries are expected to return to the pre-crisis boom times in M&As, projected to reach $25 billion this year and up to $100 billion in 2011, according to the GCC M&A Barometer survey conducted by Zawya and M Communications. The GCC M&A Barometer surveyed 27 investment banks, which highlighted telecommunications and financial services as two industries in the Middle East that will see more consolidations. The majority of M&As are expected to take place within the GCC, with Saudi Arabia leading the United Arab Emirates, followed by Qatar. Some 85 percent
