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In this episode, Partner Neil Millar and Senior Associate Tayla Johnston from our Corporate and Commercial team dive into the current state of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2024 and their outlook for 2025. They revisit their 2024 M&A Forecast, reflecting on key market trends, and explore what may lie ahead for the industry, particularly focusing on private equity, trade buyers, and distressed assets. They also cover the challenges posed by cautious buyers and the slow pace of deal closures, along with insights into sectors that remain hot for investment.

[00:30 ] Tayla and Neil begin by recapping the challenging M&A landscape of 2023 and their initial cautious optimism for 2024. They reflect on how these trends have carried into 2024, with some improvements, particularly led by private equity.

[2:18 ] They note how private equity has continued to drive M&A activity despite macroeconomic challenges. 

[5:11 ] Neil and Tayla talk about how delays increase the chances of deals falling through, as both buyers and sellers have more time to reconsider.

[06:20 ] They discuss the outlook for 2025 with private equity expected to continue driving deals. They also highlight key drivers that are causing an uptick in activity.

[11:00 ] Neil and Tayla mention buyer’s remorse, where buyers are reassessing deals made during the COVID-driven boom and dealing with post-purchase disputes. 

[13:02 ] They discuss the new and hot sectors in 2024 and highlight recent deals in these sectors, including major health tech and fintech transactions. 

[15:14 ] Finally, they talk about distressed M&A and turnaround funds. They explain the limited presence of turnaround funds in New Zealand and Australia and whether we will see more. 

Information in this episode is accurate as at the date of recording Tuesday, 24 September 2024.

Please contact Neil Millar, Tayla Johnston or our Corporate team if you need legal advice and guidance on any of the topics discussed in the episode.

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Additional resources

M&A Forecast 2024

For show notes and additional resources visit minterellison.co.nz/podcasts