Kerry Berchem Quoted in Mergermarket on M&A, PE Deal Activity

Mergermarket has quoted Akin Gump corporate partner Kerry Berchem in the article “M&A predictions in a post-COVID-19 world: US edition.” The article looks at the state of the M&A market nine months after the spread of the pandemic.

While M&A activity dipped considerably at the outset, the article says the third quarter saw a significant recovery in deal activity by value. This included a resurgence of some larger deals with enterprise values of more than $10 billion.

“Both corporates and financial sponsors participated in the rebound, some opportunistically, while others defensively,” said Berchem. She noted that the recovery was seen across sectors, except energy, where the decline in oil prices has hurt the industry.

Meanwhile, the article reports that private equity deals have also picked up since the slowdown in the second quarter.

Looking ahead, Berchem said, “The private equity industry is exceedingly well capitalized and, for the foreseeable future, we should expect to see an active, if tempered, deployment of PE capital.”

Part of the recovery in the third quarter, the article says, has been led by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), which have been targeting increasingly larger deals the past few years.

SPACs, many of which are private equity-based, Berchem said, have “substantial dry powder and are well positioned to seize upon attractive buying opportunities when and if they materialize in 2021.”