(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump’s return to the White House is predicted to seed the ground for more big-ticket mergers and acquisitions. Trump swept to victory in Tuesday’s US presidential election after defeating Kamala Harris across key battleground states. The win boosted the so-called Trump Trade, sending the S&P and the US dollar higher.
Bankers and lawyers say Trump’s pro-business focus will be a boon for M&A, giving further fuel to the nascent recovery in dealmaking. There’s “pretty big pent-up demand” for M&A and many companies have been “dusting off their dream deals,” Evercore Inc. Chairman Emeritus Ralph Schlosstein said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Wednesday.
Dealmaking is set to be even stronger next year, according to Schlosstein. “The prospect for cuts to corporate taxes and capital gains that he’s promised will further accelerate what was already a recovering M&A cycle,” said Raul Gutierrez, head of M&A at Truist Securities Inc. “You should be able to see larger transactions move forward.
Some of these had been put on hold given the current antitrust stance and I think you’ll see a greater willingness to test agencies out once the administration takes over.” President Joe Biden’s administration has been cracking down on deals viewed as having the potential to concentrate corporate power and limit consumer choice. Lina Khan, chair of the US Federal Trade Commission, and Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general for the Ju.
