While the surge in Q1 market volatility has had a dramatic impact on asset prices, and led to some unprecedented central bank interventions to stabilize markets, one product that has seen a dramatic hit and has yet to rebound, is M&A.
According to BofA, North American M&A volumes declined again in March, falling to $107bn from $140bn in February, $157bn in January and the recent peak of $410bn in November of last year.
The implication of the above is that investment banking revenues from M&A advisory work, which had been steadily rising over the past two years, are about to see a sharp decline. And, after a year which saw a record $5 trillion in global M&A, this will be a bitter pill to swallow for the banking community. The top M&A deals of 2015 are shown below.
However, that may be just the beginning of bankers’ headaches.
It is no secret that over the past several years, one of the primary drivers behind M&A activity was tax inversions, which however as yesterday’s striking announcement by the US Treasury made clear, are now effectively over, and with them goes much of the impetus for companies to merge.
And while the Pfizer-Allergan $160 billion merger may be the most notable casualty of the Treasury’s decree, there are various other deals working on corporate inversion deals or who have carried out inversions in the past. They are shown in the list below, courtesy of Bloomberg:
Progressive Waste-Waste Connections
Texas-based Waste Connections Inc. agreed to buy fellow garbage-hauling company Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. in January, and announced plans to move its tax domicile to Canada. The new company would have an effective tax rate of about 27 percent, down from the 40 percent rate that Waste Connections pays now, it said in a statement at the time.
The proposed regulations would have an impact of less than 3 percent of the new company’s adjusted free cash flow, which is expected to be more than $625 million, the companies said in a joint statement Tuesday. “The two companies remain committed to the strategic merger.”
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