Is cross-border M&A cooling?

U.S. cross-border dealmaking is seeing some challenges following the market surge in 2021.

The Financial Post wrote a story on the M&A outlook half way through 2022—“U.S. cross-border M&A: Mid-2022 outlook”—in which Torys partners Michael Horwitz and Stefan Stauder and senior associates Meghan McKeever and Michael Portner Gartke said “the white-hot pace of 2021 continued for much of the first quarter, but the second quarter saw a noticeable decline”.

“In both the U.S. and Canada, we’ve definitely seen transactions halted due to the impact of the current macro environment,” Michael said in an interview with the Financial Post.

“While many sellers still think they can dictate pricing and terms, some buyers have become wary of this and want additional time to assess whether the impact of inflationary pressures or an increase in the cost of goods and labour is transitory.”

Michael continued, saying that these second- and third-look buyers are leading to delays and, in some cases, deals being called off altogether.

Read: U.S. cross-border M&A: Mid-2022 outlook

As reported in the Q3 Torys Quarterly that so far in 2022, growing interest rates and an uncertain economic outlook are among numerous challenges that may combine for increasing volatility as the year continues.

Currently on trend, a quarter of the U.S. demand for Canadian purchases so far this year has been attributed to financial buyers.

You can read more about our M&A work on our practice page.

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