Mergers and acquisitions will pick up in coming years as supply chains scramble to recalibrate after US-China trade war
- Of deal makers surveyed, 77 per cent expect tariffs, other trade barriers to fuel future mergers, according to Baker Tilly International and Mergermarket
- Value of global deals was down 11 per cent to US$2.49 trillion in first nine months of 2019
More than half of deal makers said they expected an uptick in mergers and acquisitions in the coming year as the US-China trade war forces a shift in global supply chains, according to a new report.
Of the deal makers polled, 77 per cent said they expected increasing tariffs and other barriers to trade will be the top drivers of deals in the future, according to the report by accounting and business services firm Baker Tilly International and financial data provider Mergermarket.
“We are seeing strong interest among buyers despite the geopolitical turbulence in almost every corner of the globe, and respondents believe this will continue into the year ahead,” said Michael Sonego, global corporate finance lead at Baker Tilly.
The survey interviewed 150 deal makers between July and August this year, with a quarter of the respondents from the United States. Thirty-nine per cent were from private equity or venture capital firms.
The trade war between the US and China has raged for more than a year, with US President Donald Trump putting tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese-made goods as he tries to force Beijing to change it industrial and trade policies.