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Investment bankers say Trump mergers and acquisitions boom already underway


President-elect Trump won’t officially take office for another week, but investment bankers say a Trump-related deal boom is already underway — with transaction activity hampered by the regulation-heavy Biden administration set to explode.

That was the conclusion of a panel of investment bankers and private equity executives who discussed the return of corporate deal-making at the Frontiers of Digital Finance conference in Miami on Tuesday.

“We will have more deals in the market in 2025 than in the last two years combined,” Jeffrey Levin, managing director of investment banking giant Houlihan Lokey, said while speaking on the panel. “More capital has been raised in the last three years than in the history of private equity, but not deployed.”

The conference, sponsored by Biz2X, a private lending company that provides online lending solutions to small businesses, featured some of the key players in finance and politics. Patrick McHenry, a former North Carolina congressman and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in a keynote speech that a Trump victory, with Republicans retaining House leadership and a majority in the Senate, would usher in a new era of regulation. Encourage capital formation.

What impact might the incoming Trump administration have on the M&A market?

Representative Patrick McHenry, a Republican from North Carolina and ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, June 23, 2022. The Federal Reserve Chairman gave his clearest answer yet. (Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

McHenry said, “Washington is open, and the United States economy is open. The era of regulation, lawmaking and politics is over after the financial crisis.”

During a panel discussion on mergers and acquisitions, David McGown, managing director of Barclays’ Financial Institutions Group, said he expects a lighter regulatory approach from the incoming Trump administration’s Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, to increase deal appetite. are looking. and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department.

Biden’s appointees to lead those three agencies have halted nearly all M&A activity in recent years; Those who decided to disregard regulatory restrictions have faced a lengthy legal battle with the Biden deal police.

That said, Trump is not expected to provide carte blanche for all deals. Their regulators are still skeptical about the power of Big Tech and may view Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and other tech giants with suspicion as their size continues to grow.

BNY Wealth CIO says less regulation is powering US stocks going forward

Once Trump finalizes leadership appointments at key agencies, other businesses like banking may face less regulatory scrutiny than Big Tech.

McGown said Barclays is currently involved in a number of transactions that are a direct result of the post-election decline in dealmaking.

During the panel discussion, AV Mehrotra, global head of Goldman Sachs’ Activism, Shareholder Advisory and Takeover Defense Practices, said he expected consolidation among regional banks – small to medium-sized banks with less than $100 billion in assets.

Mergers and acquisitions that were blocked or challenged by the Biden administration in 2024

Because of their size, regional banks benefit from mergers due to so-called scale synergies. These refer to cost savings and revenue growth resulting from the increased size and scale that accompanies the merger of two entities.

McGown noted that the top four investment banks – Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Bank of America – each have more than a trillion dollars in assets, and last year, they combined made more than half of the banking industry’s profits. Earned.

Wall Street sign in front of the American flag (Reuters/Mike Sager/Reuters Photos)

McGown sees this as a potential concentration risk, noting that relaxing regulations could bring in smaller boutique firms to help mitigate that risk.

“Part of the value of consolidation is finding ways to move forward, and part of it is being less concentrated at the top,” he said.

According to Mehrotra, apart from regional banks, other areas of expected accelerated M&A activity are fintech, industrial and consumer sectors.

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People familiar with the matter say the media industry is also ripe for consolidation as Warner Bros. Discovery, Comcast and other companies suffer from declining advertising revenues and so-called cord-cutting, where consumers abandon traditional cable packages and get more. We do. Their news and entertainment online.

“The truth of the matter is that Biden thought he was helping consumers by cutting deals, and all he was doing was weakening these companies and Was making me less able to compete.”



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