Finance Docket: Big deals are big these days

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Last month, despite the pickup in dealmaking, we expressed some pessimism about the prospects for major mergers given growing opposition from the Biden administration. Well, about this (and, actually, more on the White House opposition later): Acquisition of at least $10 billion More than double in the first quarterIncluding last week's announcement that Home Depot will pay $18.25 billion For content providers SRS Distribution and Apollo Global Management $11 billion proposal-which is certainly far from accepted-For the studio division of Paramount Global.

“History shows that we are in the early innings of a cyclical M&A rally,” Andre Kelleners of Goldman Sachs told wall street journal, And as of early Q2, there appear to be no signs that it's slowing down, and in fact quite the opposite: private-equity firm Silver Lake is taking talent agency Endeavor Group Holdings private. $13 billion Evaluation. A lot of small deals are also happening. Total dealmaking in the first quarter was $725 billion, up 24% from last year (including Apollo) $8 billion The deal for Credit Suisse's securitized products group). Oilfield services company SLB keeps energy M&A sector hot $7.75 billion Bid for competitive ChampionX. Across the pond, Swisscom is paying $8.7 billion Vodafone's Italian business and actor Ryan Reynolds' payments processor Nuvei to go private $6.3 billion Deal with Pay Shop Advent International.

“Mega-deals are thriving,” Citi's Tyler Dixon They sayAnd law firms are hiring for them: Lateral partner hiring by the largest firms, especially among corporate lawyers, was up about 20% in the first two months of 2024. And there must be a lot for them to do: clothing manufacturer Gildan Activewear, boasting broadly $6 billion Market cap is on the block; Carlyle Group has cast its net for stake thyssenkrupp's marine unit And Unilever plans By-product This is Ben & Jerry's ice cream business. Medical-device maker Massimo is reportedly Looking for a joint venture partner Who split the consumer side of it with (an activist hedge fund – more on that later – is). start a proxy fight Anyway), and WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann has offered $500 million For your former company. And, of course, there's the possibility of a mega-mega deal for his owner current rating This would be bigger than all the mega-deals of the first quarter combined: For TikTok, that depends management committee And China make faces a possible restrictions If it was not sold in America, it would probably be sold to the former Treasury Secretary. steve mnuchinJoe's former boss, who doesn't appear on any shortlist for his old job, should get his old job back in January.

Of course, the surge in big deals has been uneven, and one place where they aren't thriving is Asia-Pacific, TikTok's current home region, where M&A declined 28% in the first quarter. The situation is similar on China's stock markets, where traders are having to bear the brunt of it. bubble-tea debut as two more Major Initial Public Offerings Stayed drawn in recent weeks,

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