2021 Mid-year Update: expect stiff competition for attractive M&A candidates, amid economic optimism and rich sources of capital
Companies continue to retune their strategies and speed up the adoption of technology in the wake of COVID-19. Macroeconomic indicators point to growth, lifting the mood among business leaders (see PwC’s 24th Annual Global CEO Survey) and increasing appetite for mergers and acquisitions as a means of accelerating growth, gaining scale and digitally transforming businesses. With interest rates expected to remain low and capital available in abundance – particularly private equity and other private markets capital – there’s plenty of money to spend.
All this adds up to attractive M&A opportunities into 2022. But it also spells stiff competition for attractive targets, and buyers should beware of paying too much, even for candidates in technology and other innovative areas that promise to boost future growth.
Some key takeaways for Switzerland:
Learn more about trends in Switzerland and our expectations in the blogpost.
“A strategic focus on ESG when acquiring businesses will be one of the keys to successfully generating value for all stakeholders in the mid to long term.”
“Despite macroeconomic headwinds, the pursuit of strategic advantage is powering deals. SPACs are set to challenge both corporate and PE buyers for the best assets, pressuring dealmakers to prioritise revenue growth over cost synergies to justify high valuations.”
Learn more about further key trends driving M&A activity globally and potential investment hotspots for the remainder of 2021 and into 2022. Check out our global industry-specific takeways below.
And what about the situation in Switzerland? Our industry experts will be sharing their point of views on trends in Switzerland and our expectations in the upcoming weeks - stay tuned.
“Health Industry M&A is strong, and we see no sign that the activity will subside. The prevalent industry trends fuel M&A activity and provide significant growth and value creation opportunities for both corporate and private equity transactions. M&A will remain hot and further drive high valuations.”
“Retail and consumer is at the leading edge of post-pandemic recovery. With a pressing need for right-sizing or accelerating business model transformation, we can expect an abundance of M&A opportunity going forward.”
“Looking beyond traditional business models and putting value creation at the core are key factors for successful M&A strategies in financial services.”
Media streaming services, software as a service (SaaS) and "deep tech" like quantum computing capabilities, as well as geopolitical sovereignty on tech governance are the three prevailing forces that are shaping current M&A activity in the tech, media & telecoms (TMT) industry in 2021. Learn soon how they're impacting the deal values and volumes in the Swiss market.
Industrial manufacturing and automotive (IM&A) M&A has picked up in 2021, with EMEA regaining its pre-pandemic position as the region with the highest deal volumes and the Americas leading in terms of deal values. See what factors are driving these regional trends and find out soon what trends we're seeing on the Swiss IM&A market.
Deals in mining and metals continued to dominate the energy and utilities industry (EU&R) in the first half of 2021. Buoyed by high commodity prices and demand for critical minerals needed to enable energy transition, we expect more M&A activity to come. Read more in our Global M&A Industry Trends.
