It is fair to say that the acquisition and leveraged finance industry has shown resilience in relation to the difficult global situation arising from the covid-19 pandemic, particularly in comparison to the previous global crisis in 2008. Generally speaking, while in the first semester of 2020 the deal flow slowed as a result of covid-19 as private equity (PE) houses were forced to shift their focus onto already existing portfolios, there was a noteworthy increase in the acquisition and leveraged market activity in the second semester, predominantly in the last quarter. The following defensive industries have demonstrated their ability to withstand the covid-19 crisis: pharmceuticals; bio sanitary; food; technology, media and telecommunications; and logistics, among others.

Covid-19 vaccines are providing confidence to market players, therefore facilitating the ability to agree on valuations, and also reducing gaps between the expectations of both seller and buyer. The result is more mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity. Besides, it is reasonable to expect that the emergency measures taken by governments worldwide to address the hardships caused by covid-19 (such as state aid measures or public restrictions regarding foreign direct investment) will gradually be removed. This should, in principle, also lead to more deal flow in the M&A sector.

Originally published in The Acquisition and Leveraged Finance Review - November 2021.