The pace of mergers and acquisitions continued to decline across the industrial products sectors during the first half of 2009 compared to the first half of 2008, according to a series of quarterly M&A reports released by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Deal volume and value in the global transportation and logistics and industrial manufacturing industries slowed significantly in the first half of 2009 as economic uncertainties continued to dominate the global metals economy.

In industrial manufacturing, the pace of deal volume (measures by the number of deals with a disclosed value of at least $50 million) declined 71% to 26 deals in the first-half 2009. Only 12 deals were announced in the second quarter 2009, a steep drop from 47 in the prior year. Large deal activity (defined as deals …