Unpredictability strikes back on the 2016
M&A market. IFLR1000’s annual rankings
identify the law firms that have laid the foundations for next
year’s deal activity
As 2015 marked a record year for M&A transactions
and hailed the return of the megamerger, in January 2016 many
commentators and industry insiders were looking ahead with
optimism to what could be achieved. They were however greeted
by an M&A hangover and significant drop in deal value.
The most striking figure of all (from Dealogic) was the
$606.4 billion in M&A deals withdrawn in the first half of
2016 alone, more than doubling the 2015 figure of $233.3
billion. Dealogic data up to December 2016 showed a clear drop
in overall deal value (more so than volume) globally. While
full year 2015 reached $3.96 trillion, 2016 to December was a
third lower at $2.91 trillion....