‘We’re starting to see activity again’: Legal dealmakers show measured optimism after slow 2022 – Financial Post

Michael Innes

Feb 6, 2023

The number of M&A transactions in 2022 may have been the lowest in seven years, but there is reason for optimism about prospects for this year, says Michael Innes, in an interview with the Financial Post.

“We’re starting to see activity again as people are accepting the new reality that the 10-year bond at 1.7% is history, and that they’ll have to access the capital markets in the current environment if they want to make investments and do M&A,” says Michael. “That being said, we’re still in a transitional phase where people are sorting out where things are heading, whether interest rates and supply chains will normalize, and whether or not we’re headed into a recession.”

Even with last year’s activity slowdown, there were some sectors that showed strength. “The rising interest rates put a lot of activity on pause in the corporate sector, but bank activity funding M&A and capital issues was quite robust,” says Michael.

Read the full article by author Julius Melnitzer published by the Financial Post on February 6, 2023