The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is perhaps the signature legislation of the Trump administration. For individuals and joint filings, it completely overhauled the tax brackets as well as the amount to be paid. This is in addition to changes to estate tax deductions, revisions to deductions for large medical expenses and many other updates.
While major law firms provide valued counsel to clients during this current wave of corporate mega-mergers, some of these firms face the same issues, as the legal industry is itself experiencing merger mania.
We’ve written a lot about mergers and acquisitions over the last year. The market is certainly robust, with megadeals leading the way. In fact, the M&A market is on pace for a record year according to Bloomberg, exceeding the $4.1 trillion total of 2007. But not all deals involve a combination of two companies. In fact, private equity M&As, where a fund developed by a PE firm purchases an asset, are in the midst of a strong run of growth.
According to Thomson Reuters, the rate of PE M&A deals is on the rise. During the first half of 2018, they accounted for 27 percent of all M&As, up from 24 percent in 2017. Not only are the total number of these deals on the uptick, but their value is increasing as well. The same research shows the total value of the deals from 1H 2018 were up 36 percent year over year.
The effects of the emerging trade war between the U.S. and China is starting to be seen in various industries on both sides of the Pacific. In July, the Trump administration implemented a 25 percent tariff of $34 billion in goods from China, this according to the Brookings Institute. These tariffs will be especially felt on machinery, semiconductors and other technologies. Earlier this week, Washington doubled down by adding another $16 billion in tariffs.
While entertainment mega-mergers like AT&T/TimeWarner and Disney/Fox are dominating the business news headlines, the implications of tax reform and other policies from the Trump administration are changing the merger landscape for all types of industries. One sector that’s experiencing significant consolidation, a lot of it “under the radar,” is healthcare.
The worldwide virtual data room (VDR) market is expected to more than double in size to nearly $1.9 billion by 2022, this according to MarketsandMarkets. Driven by a combination of robust M&A activity, technological improvements and changing business practices, these highly secure systems for storing and managing sensitive data are streamlining how transactions are conducted.