Contact: Brenon Daly
Undeterred by the recent slowdown in M&A activity, tech acquirers have largely left their bullish forecast for dealmaking unchanged. For the third consecutive time, essentially half of the respondents to the semiannual M&A Leaders’ Survey from 451 Research and Morrison & Foerster indicated that they expected an acceleration in acquisition activity.
The 51% that forecast a pickup over the next year in M&A in our most-recent edition is more than twice the 19% that projected a decline. The results lined up very closely with the sentiment from both the year-ago survey as well as our previous survey in April.
More broadly, the outlook from the three recent surveys reflects an unusual bit of stability in what is an inherently lumpy business. A bit of history: Over the previous half-dozen years of the M&A Leaders’ Survey from 451 Research and Morrison & Foerster, swings of 10 or even 20 percentage points from one edition to the next haven’t been uncommon.
451 Research subscribers can click here for the full report on the views from 150 top dealmakers, including their forecasts on M&A valuations, their thoughts on where startups should be looking to exit, and how they see the pitched fight with cash-rich private equity buyers playing out.
