April 9, 2024
Antitrust: Are Buyers & Sellers Adjusting to the Regulatory “New Normal”?
A recent S&P Market Intelligence blog says that the first quarter of 2024 may see the highest number of big deal announcements in two years. Four global M&A deals with transaction values greater than $10 billion were announced in February, and with eight deals of this size through the first two months of the year, S&P says likely we’re likely to see the highest number of these megadeals since the second quarter of 2022, when 11 were announced.
This excerpt from the blog suggests that one reason for this is that dealmakers are more confident that they can manage their way through the current regulatory environment:
Even though some deals are expected to face reviews, the transaction announcements are a positive sign for activity. Bill Curtin, global head of the M&A practice at law firm Hogan Lovells, said the recent uptick in large deals indicates that companies are getting used to the more restrictive antitrust guidelines. Curtin said the transactions might face litigation, longer closing times and increased costs. Pursuing the transactions shows that companies view the positives of M&A as outweighing the negatives.
“Confidence with respect to how to work constructively with the regulators means M&A rises in 2024,” Curtin said on the latest edition of the Pipeline podcast. “And … $10 billion-plus, $20 billion transactions, those start to return, as you’ve seen.”
– John Jenkins