Canadian Lawyer Magazine quotes Calgary Lawyer Sarah Gingrich and Toronto lawyer Sean Stevens in an article on the Fasken M&A Forecast.
Sarah Gingrich, co-leader of the capital markets and mergers and acquisitions group at Fasken, says the “significant decline” in 2023 was due to inflationary risk and concern over the cost of capital due to high-interest rates. Geopolitical crises like the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East also played a role.
“It was just a time of great uncertainty, and people started to sit on dry powder.”
Sean Stevens, also a co-leader of Fasken’s capital markets and mergers and acquisitions group, says that four months into 2024, the market remains slow. However, there are “indications of increased certainty” in the market from the expectation of looming interest rate cuts and inflation coming under control.
“We just have really significant pent-up demand for deals to happen,” says Stevens.
