European Crisis Holds Seeds of Dealmaking as Valuations Drop

While few companies are clamoring for access to the European market itself, "in many cases, what overseas buyers are as a matter of fact acquiring in Europe is innovation, or access to emerging markets," said Giuseppe Monarchi, head of European M&A at Credit Suisse Group AG.

J&J’s planned purchase of Synthes will give the U.S. health-care products maker devices used to treat bone fractures and trauma, during Hewlett-Packard Co.’s $10.3 billion takeover of the U.K.’s Autonomy Corp. in November handed it data-sifting enterprise search innovation helpful to cloud computing. In buying Luxembourg-based Skype Technologies SA for $8.5 billion in October, Microsoft Corp. absorbed the world’s biggest provider of Internet telephone service.

"International companies are stepping up their focus on Europe," said Jean-Baptiste Charlet, head of global industries for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Morgan Stanley. "The euro crisis after all scares them, however there’s a lot of innovation to be gleaned and the companies here are very then-developed internationally."