Covid-19’s impact on merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the first quarter will be minor compared to what’s to come in the next few months. But, with economic upheaval will come opportunity for buyers and sellers alike as the year progresses.
Entering 2020, the M&A market was already facing a slowdown. After years of a “bull market”, where acquisition targets had been fiercely contended and prices consequently pushed, there was a “subtle softening” of global activity at the end of Q4 2019 according to Jonathan Davis, a partner at Clarity Capital – the M&A advisory that in last year alone managed transactions including digital agency Dept’s sale to The Carlyle Group, Livingbridge’s equity injection to Brainlabs and Accenture’s purchase of Hjaltelin Stahl.
