Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Mergers and Acquisitions–2022 and 2023

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2022 was a tale of two halves for M&A.  The beginning of the year was active, as robust dealmaking carried over from the record-breaking levels of 2021 to drive approximately $2.2 trillion worth of global deals through the first half of the year, compared to approximately $2.7 trillion worth of such deals announced over the same time period in the previous year.  M&A activity slowed considerably after the first half of 2022, however, as significant dislocation in financing markets, an increasingly volatile stock market, declining share prices, concerns over inflation, rapidly increasing interest rates, war in Europe, supply chain disruption … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses M&A Activity in 2020 and Expectations for 2021

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Deal activity (or inactivity) for much of 2020 was driven first by the unprecedented uncertainty and massive global shutdown of the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, and then propelled by rising markets and confidence as animal spirits anticipated the light at the end of the tunnel, even against a backdrop of political instability and record levels of infection and death.  Indeed, for M&A, 2020 was a tale of two halves:  the second lowest first-half global M&A volume in the last decade (approximately $1.2 trillion), followed by a 90% increase in the last six months (to approximately $2.4 trillion), for … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Disclosure Issues Relating to COVID-19

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Among the many issues facing public companies as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is how to handle disclosure.  The pandemic is having a material impact on most companies.  While in a few cases the crisis may actually be increasing demand for a company’s products or services, in the overwhelming number of cases, the business impact is negative.  The pandemic may affect operations, employees, customers, supply chains, outlook, stock trading, risk factors, and a variety of other aspects of a company’s business, results and prospects.  Internal disclosure controls should also be reviewed to ensure that the company is eliciting and … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Mergers and Acquisitions—2020

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Despite ebbs and flows of global economic uncertainty, M&A activity remained robust in 2019.  Total deal volume reached $4 trillion globally, a slight decrease from the $4.1 trillion volume in 2018, but higher than the $3.5 trillion in 2017.  The U.S. M&A market had a particularly strong year.  15 of the 20 largest deals involved U.S. companies, with deals involving U.S. targets totaling over $1.8 trillion, second only to the record of over $2 trillion set in 2015.  While deals over $10 billion fell from 60 globally in 2018 to 49 in 2019, deals over $25 billion increased from 16 … Read more

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Mergers and Acquisitions — 2019

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As a whole, 2018 proved to be another strong year for M&A.  Total deal volume reached almost $4.2 trillion globally, higher than the $3.7 trillion volume of 2017, but still less than the record of over $5 trillion set in 2015.  Deals involving U.S. targets totaled over $1.7 trillion, compared to approximately $1.5 trillion in 2017.  The number of large deals significantly increased in 2018, with 60 deals over $10 billion announced globally (compared to 46 deals in 2017).  The technology sector saw the largest deal volume, followed by healthcare, oil and gas, and real estate.  Private equity firms also … Read more