STRAIGHT TO THE POINT WITH WALTER TUNED ON DECEMBER 22, 2021
WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER RECORD-SHATTERING YEAR FOR MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata 2021 isn't quite over yet, but it's already been a record-shattering, eviscerating, gralloching year for mergers and acquisitions. Driving the news: Global M&A topped $5.5 trillion through last Thursday, including more than $2.4 trillion for U.S. targets, per Refinitiv. And that was before Oracle agreed to pay $28 billion for Cerner or BMO agreed to pay $16.3 billion for Bank of the West. Preliminary year-end data will be released by Refinitiv late next week. For context, global M&A never previously topped $3.5 trillion. The prior U.S. peak was around $1.55 trillion. Private equity-backed deals also hit new highs, topping $1 trillion for the first time ever. Ditto for venture capital (almost no matter how you define it) and SPACs. What to know: This isn't just about the dollars, which could be partially explained away by equity valuation inflation. There's ...