During these unprecedented times, all of us have had to acclimate to new ways of working, adapting creatively to the changed environment. Economic activity, including M&A dealmaking, has inevitably been depressed by the COVID-19 crisis, especially in Q2 2020—but industries and businesses have found novel solutions to the problems they face. By Q4, M&A was again beginning to surge.
In this post, we examine the creative deal structures that are being employed with much greater frequency throughout the M&A market. Based on interviews with 150 US corporates and private equity firms, this post analyzes the ways in which M&A is moving forward in spite of the pandemic.
Q2 2020 saw a marked downturn in M&A activity relative to pre-crisis transaction levels. But, since then, dealmaking has bounced back strongly. While a full-scale recovery may not be achievable in the immediate future, there are many reasons to be positive.
The increased use of creative deal structures will be an important part of that story, helping buyers and sellers to overcome some of the risk aversion holding M&A back in the currently volatile and uncertain environment—and enabling more confident parties to pursue emerging opportunities. Indeed, we are already witnessing such an increase, reflected in the rising number of joint venture transactions and the boom in the launch of special purpose acquisition vehicles (SPACs).
