At the heart of Goldman’s M&A platform is perhaps the best pre-eminent anti-raid practice in the business. Gordon Dyal, global head of M&A, says that nothing can beat experience in this highly technical area where compressed timeframes mean there is little room for error. “Having bankers with experiences in a number of situations involving likely raider tactics and behaviour, the impact of various takeover defences, arb strategies and market expectations is critical in interpreting the possible outcomes in a given situation. Of course, creativity and judgement are our distinctive edge,” he says.
Despite the market turmoil, Mr Dyal is positive about the M&A outlook. He points out that activity has been balanced across industry and types of deal, and that the market is not dependent on any particular geography because regions outside of the US have become major contributors to the growth in M&A. “Year to date, volumes based on any involvement for EMEA have surpassed volumes in the US. Flows from the new markets areas continue to grow,” he says.
He believes that the current conditions may simply lead to a ‘normalisation’ of market levels. Mr Dyal cites the record levels of M&A activity in 2007, with M&A volumes surpassing the previous record of $3600bn and volumes as a percentage of equity market cap reaching 12% (equal to that of 2000) as evidence that activity remains healthy with a number of areas of likely consolidation. “The credit market readjustment may cause a return to the more normalised M&A levels of 2005-06,” he says.
