Spencer Klein, co-chair of MoFo’s global M&A Practice Group, sat down with The Deal to talk about trends in the M&A market. He noted that there was a slow level of M&A activity both globally and in the United States during the first half of this year, especially on the private equity side, but there was still activity in certain sectors. The telecommunications and technology sectors continue to be active, with SoftBank’s acquisition of Sprint being the catalyst for change in the wireless business (MoFo served as lead M&A counsel to SoftBank on the deal). Mr. Klein said health care and life sciences will also continue to be active sectors as the Affordable Care Act comes online and as those markets continue to search for efficiencies.
Mr. Klein also discussed M&A activity in Asia. He said that buyers are increasingly coming into the United States from Asia – the first-half’s low levels of activity from Japan is reversing and Chinese companies are becoming more active.
Mr. Klein suggested that the market perceives lower interest rates to persist following Larry Summer’s announcement that he has withdrawn his name from consideration to be chairman of the Federal Reserve, which may bode well for M&A activity through the end of the year.
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