M&A Business in Trough, To Rebound Next Year, Says Brunswick Study

April 2 - The Earth Times - A slight majority of leading M&A advisers polled believe that the economy is fundamentally sound and the merger business will pick up in one year to 18 months, according to a new survey by Brunswick Group LLC.

The survey polled leading bankers and lawyers in the U.S. to gauge the impact of the current downturn but did not poll private equity firms or corporate acquirers. The results were announced on the eve of the 20th Annual Tulane Law School Corporate Law Institute, the leading M&A conference that hosts the nation’s top deal lawyers, Delaware judges, bankers and other market participants to discuss the latest trends.

Fifty-two percent of those polled believe the M&A market is in a trough that will turn by mid 2008, and another 41% agreed with the more bearish statement, “We are moving into a recession – it will take up to five years to return to the level of M&A activity we saw in 2007.” A small minority of diehard optimists, 7%, regard the dip as “a short-term blip – less than a year.” Read More.