M&A Activity Remains Quiet Amid Uncertainty About New Administration

The mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market has reportedly remained quiet so far this year as potential dealmakers try to get a sense of the Trump Administration’s stance on antitrust regulation.

Year to date, through April 21, the number of deals is down 19%, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday (April 22), citing data from LSEG.

In February, there was no announcement of a deal valued over $10 billion globally — and that was the first time in 25 months that was the case — the report said.

March saw two large deals announced, with Google acquiring Wiz and Sycamore Partners taking over Walgreens Boots Alliance, according to the report.

In April, even with Global Payments saying it would acquire Worldpay for $24 billion, the number of deals is down 45% year over year, and the value is down 1%, the report said.

Merger activity commonly slows during the first months of a new administration in Washington, D.C., but the market has also been rattled by the trade war, President Donald Trump’s threats to fire Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell and uncertainty about how administration officials will view M&A deals that could have antitrust implications, according to the report.

Still, dealmakers expect the agencies of the Trump Administration to be more flexible in approving deals than was the Biden Administration, the report said.

Many are watching the Google-Wiz deal to see if that is the case, per the report. The report also noted that Capital One’s previously announced $35 billion acquisition of Discover got conditional approval this month.

It was reported in December that there was increased enthusiasm about dealmaking after Trump’s election, with some predicting a more favorable regulatory environment, but many saying it was too soon to tell what shape the new administration’s economic policies would take.

On March 24, it was reported that despite the hopes of some in the banking world that the new administration would provide a more friendly regulatory environment, ushering in a new era of “megamergers,” those predictions had not yet come to pass.

As the first quarter was coming to a close, amid uncertainty about Trump Administration policies, the number of transactions worldwide had fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade.