Understanding the Evolving M&A Landscape
From large-scale acquisitions to smaller, mid-market deals, M&A activity has been on the rise. The latest full-year data showed that 2018 had more deals than any other in the past five years, according to Pitchbook data. Along with the increase in M&A activity, many industries have seen a large shift in the form of consolidation, namely in the Health Care, Media, and Technology sectors.
Given companies' increased focus on M&A as a path for growth and competitive advantage, it is important that executive management and M&A teams are well prepared when it comes to executing a transaction, especially because such events can frequently occur without prior notice.
In order to identify ways to avoid common challenges and mitigate risks, we recently completed a survey study, in partnership with Mergermarket, to understand how deal makers in the market have seen the M&A process change over the years.
Some of the most pressing challenges highlighted by senior executives include:
- 67% report M&A transactions are taking longer to complete due to increased caution from buyers, amount of information and requested information from the buy-side, and the lengthy time required to organize materials.
- 78% recall instances of bidders uncovering missing contractual agreements, adding to the length of deals.
- 65% believe that the timeline for sell-side preparations has had a mostly negative effect on the sell-side.
- 87% state that having started organizing the company for a sale well in advance would have made the process smoother.
As the study findings show, the ever-growing timeline on M&A transactions combined with the increasing volume of deals and participants involved detracts focus from the company's core business activity, leading to a host of new challenges for companies, their investors and advisors alike.
IHS Markit works with thousands of companies to overcome challenges and streamline the process related to M&A. Many M&A professionals have chosen our Prism virtual data room to help prepare for future deals and to mitigate any concerns around security.
S&P Global provides industry-leading data, software and technology platforms and managed services to tackle some of the most difficult challenges in financial markets. We help our customers better understand complicated markets, reduce risk, operate more efficiently and comply with financial regulation.
This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.