Lawyer Monthly Magazine - February 2020 Edition

What’s happening in the world of M&As and IPOs? 2019 saw a decline in M&A activity. The number of global announced transactions in 2019 fell 3.7% to 34,482 as of Dec. 19, according to data from Dealogic, down from 35,976 in 2018 1 , despite the fact that many large deals, such as the London Stock Exchange Group’s $27 billion deal to buy Refinitiv and Fidelity National Information Services’ $35 billion deal to purchase WorldPay, took place. All eyes are on 2020 to see how the M&A sphere performs, even though some reports suggest the decline will slowly continue. M&A 2020 predictions are as follows 2 : - The US will lead the decline in M&A activity, after 2019 saw the lowest annual volume of large deals in five years in the US; - Europe topped M&A deals in 2019 and are expected to remain at the top for 2020. UK’s activity remains uncertain, however, due to Brexit and after their lowest deal volume in a decade in 2019; - Closing deals may take longer in 2020 than previously, due to more rigorous due diligence and checks; - Private equity deals will increase, with alternative investors entering more corporate joint ventures. It will be interesting to see how the investment scene will progress in 2020 in correlation to political changes and economic developments. This month, in our monthly M&A section, we feature some of 2019’s final deals and speak to the legal advisers who were instructed for their expertise and how they think investment and acquisitions will progress in their jurisdiction. [1] https://www.barrons.com/articles/merger-activity-dipped-in-2019-expect-m-a-to-be-strong- in-2020-51577358000 [2] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-m-slowdown-continue-2020-142002019.html