Alex Gorka
Jan 10, 2023
Completing 171 deals valued at US$36 billion last year, Osler sits atop Refinitiv’s 2022 rankings of legal advisors involved in Canadian-related mergers and acquisitions. Osler also ranks #1 in number of announced deals, with 186 transactions worth US$28 billion.
“We’re delighted by the trust that our clients continue to place in us with their most strategic transactions, and our continued success in league table rankings reflects that,” Alex Gorka, Co-Chair of Osler’s Mergers and Acquisitions group, tells Canadian Lawyer. “Constructing and closing deals in 2022 was more challenging than in prior years, and we benefited from having an experienced and deep bench across all industries and practice areas to support our clients in doing so.”
These rankings come after a quieter year in Canadian M&A than the previous two. The Refinitiv report notes that the value of announced deals with Canadian involvement dropped 27% from 2021; the number of announced deals went down 23%.
This decline, Alex points out, comes after all-time record M&A activity in 2021.
“The year was also a tale of two halves: an extraordinarily busy start to the year followed by a noticeable decline in activity in the second half,” he says. “Various factors contributed to the slowdown — inflation, higher interest rates, and geopolitical risks, all of which resulted in volatile markets, a more challenging financing environment, and greater macroeconomic uncertainty.”
Despite these declines, Alex sees “some interest picking up amongst well capitalized buyers.” In the year ahead, though, “what’s needed for deal activity to rebound is increased buyer confidence, and that will come as the macroeconomic climate stabilizes and equity and debt and equity markets become less volatile.”
You can read the full article, “Canadian law firms took top spots in 2022 North American M&A,” on the Canadian Lawyer website.