The Pipeline: M&A and IPO Insights Joe Mantone

During recent earnings conference calls, executives from Evercore, Moelis and Lazard said interest rate cuts aren't the only driver that will push private equity firms to pursue transactions. The rise in private credit funds gives advisory-focused investment banks an opportunity to increase their exposure to the debt business.

About six to nine months ago companies were preparing to stay private longer, but now management teams are gaining confidence that they can execute a successful IPO, said Dave Stadinski, Piper Sandler's global co-head of equity capital markets.  A pickup in the IPO market would certainly be welcome by deal advisers because Stadinski notes the the current slowdown in the capital markets has been longer than the one that occurred around 2008 and the Great Financial Crisis. 

Bill Curtin, global head of the M&A practice at the law firm Hogan Lovells, joined The Pipeline podcast and spoke about how dealmakers are executing transactions in the current environment. One of the headwinds slowing deals of different sizes is increased scrutiny from regulators. But Curtin said companies are factoring in the additional hurdles and pursuing transactions in part because deals help acquirers keep up with the latest technology trends. Curtin also noted that joint ventures have become more common during the recent M&A downturn.

JMP Securities analyst Devin Ryan expects that 2023 will mark a trough year for M&A and 2024 can put investment banks on a path to acceleration in their advisory fee business. 

The IPO market has been extremely slow since the early part of 2022. The lack of activity has created some "pent-up supply" of high-quality companies that are ready to go public, according to Seth Rubin, head of US equity capital markets for Stifel Financial Corp. Rubin recently spoke with The Pipeline about the strategies some companies are taking to execute an IPO, the outlook for the market as a whole and the future of SPAC issuance.

The amount of time it takes to meet US pre-merger compliance requirements has the potential to skyrocket if regulators move forward with a rulemaking proposal. The Pipeline recently spoke with Kara Kuritz, a partner in Vinson & Elkins’ antitrust practice, to get a better idea on what the proposed changes entail and a bit of a history lesson on the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.