Global M&A Trends and Risks Report launches in collaboration with Mergermarket

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright recently collaborated with Mergermarket to survey 200 senior executives from leading corporations and financial institutions on their views related to current M&A activity and their expectations for the near future. The result is the first-ever Global M&A Trends and Risks Report from Norton Rose Fulbright and Mergermarket, which is now available for download.

This comprehensive report examines the dealmaking prospects and expected trends with a particular eye on geographies, sectors and deal drivers. The spotlight on M&A challenges looks at why tougher regulation and political risk are front of mind for dealmakers. Other issues explored in the survey include how financing opportunities vary between regions, why the state of the regulatory landscape matters and what to expect regarding the global M&A outlook.

Ayşe Yüksel Mahfoud, Norton Rose Fulbright’s Global Head of Corporate, M&A and Securities, said:

“With approximately 1,400 corporate, M&A and securities lawyers around the world, we have helped many clients navigate through the recent challenges in the global markets. We produced this M&A-focused report to share our latest corporate experience and global insights. Following last year’s slowdown, we were pleased to see the business leaders surveyed confirm our optimism for M&A activity moving forward.”

Highlights from the report include:

• Fifty-one percent of respondents expect the overall appetite for M&A to increase this year.
• Sixty-three percent of those surveyed name technology among the sectors expected to see the most growth in inbound cross-border M&A.
• Private equity dry powder is listed among the top three drivers of M&A activity this year.
• Antitrust and cybersecurity are seen as the most prevalent regulatory challenges in North America.
• ESG is viewed as likely to impede and complicate activity in Europe and the Middle East.
• Financing costs continue to be high for most prospective dealmakers, with those in Europe and the Middle East expected to be impacted the most.
• Foreign direct investment regulations are expected to be the largest regulatory challenge in developing economies.

“In what remains a challenging global macro-economic environment, we continue to see very strong M&A activity from our clients across Canada and have a very significant pipeline for more as the year progresses. Whether it be non-core dispositions, strategic acquisitions, private equity buyers or activist-driven transactions, a huge number of deals are getting done, and we are very bullish on the back-end of this year,” said Stephen Kelly, Canadian National Chair, Business Law.

The respondents included 100 top-level executives from multinational corporations as well as 50 from large private equity firms and 50 from major investment banks, all of whom have participated in M&A across multiple regions and sectors over the past two years. Results were analyzed by Mergermarket, and responses were anonymized and presented in the aggregate.