M&A in 2024: Navigating opportunities and challenges

This podcast episode examines the key trends and factors shaping the M&A landscape in 2023 and offers insights on the outlook for 2024. It explores sector-specific activity, highlighting the resilience of mega deals and corporate M&A, and analyzes the decline of private equity and technology M&A. Takeaways • Companies in sectors like natural resources and healthcare are pursuing M&A to gain scale, strengthen positions, and meet growing demand. • The resurgence of large transactions is driven by accumulated cash piles, scale benefits, and restored confidence in large players. • The strong underlying force and function of M&A remains, but the timing of the next surge in activity is uncertain. • Corporate clients show a strong risk appetite, while private equity clients are hesitant due to valuation uncertainty. • Election years, geopolitical events, interest rate fluctuations, and pandemics can derail confidence and impact M&A activity.