M&A in Historic Uncertainty

The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown the world into an unprecedented crisis, and social distancing measures enacted to slow the spread of the disease have pushed the global economy into recession.

M&A cycles tend to follow economic ones, and with many industries, such as travel, hospitality, retail, and oil and gas, seeing their revenues disappear, M&A across the globe in the first quarter of 2020 fell 39% in terms of value, according to Mergermarket data. Meanwhile, deal volume decreased by 25% – and Q2 will, without a doubt, see even heavier declines in deal activity.

Much of what will happen next is still up in the air and will be determined by many factors beyond the scope of M&A.

To find out more about what the coming months might have in store, we brought together six experts from the fields of law, corporate advisory, academia, and technology to share their insights into the opportunities and challenges for dealmaking in the Covid-19 era.