Deal Lawyers See Trump Measures as Boost to Cross-Border M&A

By Yin Wilczek

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions will continue to be strong for the rest of 2017, and could be boosted if the Trump administration gains ground on its pro-business agenda, deal attorneys told Bloomberg BNA.

According to a Bloomberg BNA analysis, acquirers proposed or announced 5,041 cross-border deals totaling about $1.172 trillion during the first half of the year. If that pace continues for the rest of the year, total cross-border deal volume will be more than $2.3 trillion, which would break the previous record of $2.24 trillion set in 2007.

“M&A activity continues to flourish at historically high levels,” said David Gibbons, global head of Hogan Lovells’ Corporate Practice group who’s based in London and Washington.

Much of the activity has been at the smaller to mid-markets, and “we have not seen the number of megadeals as in the first half of 2016,” Gibbons told Bloomberg BNA. “We think private equity is and will continue to become more active.”

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