Please take a read of our latest edition of THE MARK, Benchmark International's in-house publication which provides readers with a thorough insight into key events within the M&A industry.

It’s no secret that music streaming website SoundCloud is hurtling towards a period of financial difficulty. Last March the company followed in the footsteps of the likes of Spotify and Apple Music with the launch of SoundCloud Go, a premium music service that costs users $9.99 per month. Although it has since seen an increase in users, SoundCloud Go did little to alleviate the $52 billion loss the company reported for 2015, meaning it is likely to run out of cash by the end of this year.

In 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp in a deal worth $19bn. However, more than two years later, the social media giant has been accused of providing EU regulators with misleading information during its takeover of the mobile messaging service.

Benchmark International has successfully negotiated the sale of Gasco Affiliates, LLC to Tech Air, a Connecticut-based distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases and related equipment and supplies. Tech Air is owned by CI Capital Partners and Tech Air management.

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that US-based handbag and apparel designer Kate Spade is considering a potential takeover bid. The news comes just a couple of months after a US hedge fund, Caerus Investors, urged the fashion house to consider a sale in light of the falling price of its stock when compared to its peer group.

Recent industry analysis has highlighted a number of complex and significant trends within the consumer goods sector. In a sector powered by names such as Nestlé, Pepsi and Unilever, research shows that R+D budgets are diminishing as a share of revenues, particularly in comparison with highly innovative sectors such as technology. This trend is coupled with the progress made by smaller, newer brands which are eating into the market share in a range of sectors.

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Benchmark International has successfully facilitated the transaction between Garden Innovations, LLC and Florentaise. Florentaise is France’s leading manufacturer and distributor of soil mixes, improvers and mulches. Garden Innovations, LLC is a manufacturer and wholesaler of seeded garden products.

In this digital age, cyber security is a growing global issue, and a costly one at that. No one perhaps knows this better than Yahoo, who this week admitted that it had been victim to a second giant data breach following the recently disclosed 2014 attack that had already damaged the tech giant’s reputation.

Sky has reached an agreement on the terms of a full takeover from Rupert Murdoch’s 21^st Century Fox. The deal has been met with controversy since rumours first began circulating, however both parties have now agreed that Fox will pay £11.7bn for the 61 per cent stake in Sky that it does not already own, valuing the FTSE 100 company at £19bn. The acquisition will combine Fox’s film and television influence with Sky’s European distribution powers.

The U.K has a vibrant start-up culture, with an estimated 600,000 new companies set up in 2015. A whole host of factors have powered this part of the economy. Many U.K. industries are world leaders, for example the recruitment sector, while the E.U. freedom of movement drew on human capital from across the continent. The development of new challengers in different industries and sectors plays a key role in stimulating M&A activity, with buyers attracted for reasons from exciting IP to up-and-coming talent. Established companies may find it difficult to truly innovate in-house, so M&A may also give the opportunity to roll-out acquired new products or services in support of their existing operations.

In a deal that could fetch up to $3bn, McDonald’s China is set to be purchased by Citic Group Corp, the Chinese conglomerate, coupled with a US-based private equity group Carlyle.

Despite economic and political uncertainty across the globe in 2016, the year remained one of the most active for M&A deals. According to data collected by Dealogic, the value of the average deal in 2016 was $104.2m which, despite being slightly down on 2015’s average of $115.4m, was significantly greater than the average deals made between 2000 and 2014 at $77.1m. Here, we take a look at the biggest transactions that contributed to a successful year of deal making in 2016.