US tech M&A activity is expected to accelerate this year on the heels of President Donald Trump’s economic policies, according to 41% of M&A leaders in Morrison & Foerster’s semi-annual survey. Some 37% said the policies will have no impact at all, while 22% said dealmaking will be inhibited.
A little over half (52%) project deal flow to top last year’s level – more than three times the 15% of respondents who indicated that year-over-year activity would decline in 2017. This represents the most optimistic outlook in two years, the law firm said.
M&A between China and the US is expected to be “particularly difficult” during Trump’s term, as he has singled out the world’s second-largest economy “in some of his most caustic comments (and outright threats)” among US trading partners.
“The forecast almost certainly means that the record spending levels by Chinese companies on US tech assets will quickly and emphatically drop,” the report said. Some 55% said US firms will do fewer tech deals in China, compared with just 7% who predicted an uptick. Similarly, about two-thirds said Chinese acquirers will slow their purchases of US tech companies.
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