DealLawyers.com Blog

February 2, 2017

M&A in 2017: Trump Administration a Wild Card

This Nixon Peabody blog reviews the results of various M&A surveys on anticipated 2017 activity, & predicts that the upcoming year will see a high-level of activity & a more buyer-friendly market – subject to one big uncertainty:

Donald Trump’s election is shaping up to be a wild card for M&A activity in 2017. The key question is whether President Trump’s populist campaign rhetoric will result in economic policies that could have a chilling effect on markets in general, or if the Trump administration will be willing and able to work with the Republican leadership in Congress to advance a more traditional conservative economic policy.

Cuts in corporate tax rates, regulatory rollbacks & infrastructure spending could have a huge, positive impact on M&A – but if Trump & the Washington establishment (both Republicans and Democrats) end up at each other’s throats, a focused pro-business agenda is unlikely to materialize.

John Jenkins