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14 August, 2016
Herbert Smith Freehills has published the first edition of its global cross-border M&A report, carried out in association with FT Remark, the research division of the FT.
The report canvasses the opinions of 700 senior executives at major businesses around the globe on their experiences of cross-border M&A and their views on the outlook for M&A activity over the next three years. The original survey was conducted at the end of 2015 but, in order to capture any change in sentiment due to the market downturn in early 2016, the report also includes a second study of a significant cross section of the same respondents, providing a comprehensive review of the current M&A landscape.
The report showed that anxieties over data protection and cyber security rules are rising up the agenda.
In the Americas, respondents listed five issues – data protection, environmental regulation, money laundering regulation, bribery and corruption laws and anti-trust regulation – as being equally likely to have caused a deal failure in the past.
In Japan and South Korea, meanwhile, almost a third of those businesses considering acquisitions in the region (30%) were concerned about data privacy and cyber security regulations – for these buyers, this issue represented their single biggest concern.
In Western Europe, where the European Union has passed new legislation on data protection, some 15% of acquirers were concerned.
However, it is in the TMT sector where these concerns really have the potential to put a block on the surge of cross-border deal activity for TMT companies. Forty-two percent of TMT respondents stated that they were concerned over these ever-tightening rules.
To download a copy of the Beyond Borders report, please click here.
For further information, please contact:
William Hallatt, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills
William.Hallatt@hsf.com
