International Business Report 2010 - Mergers and Acquisitions: Prospects for global recovery
International Business Report 2010 - Mergers and Acquisitions: Prospects for global recovery
Privately held businesses (PHBs) are naturally cautious about their M&A plans for 2010 given the challenging economic conditions and difficulty in raising debt finance they experienced in 2009, but there are some encouraging signs for the future.
The Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) has been surveying the views of PHBs for 18 years. In its latest study, conducted in December 2009, it reveals that 26 per cent of the 7,400 respondents across 36 economies are planning acquisitions, a fall of 11 per cent on last year. Not surprisingly at a time of economic uncertainty and limited finance, a large number of PHBs are concentrating on survival rather than expansion. Yet, despite the challenging conditions, a substantial proportion of entrepreneurial firms still want to grow through M&A and this is likely to increase if optimism about a global economic recovery spreads and credit markets ease. A majority of the PHBs surveyed (62 per cent) believe that the upturn has started already or will take place during the course of 2010.