AP reports merger-and-acquisition activity is faster than any time since 2000, with deals worth more than the German GDP.
The intense acquisition activity is driven by the surplus of cash
held by private equity firms and public companies alike, as well as
interest rates that are near historic lows and the willingness of banks
to provide financing. If current economic conditions persist, the
whiplash pace of acquisition activity may go on.
Now for the caveat.
An interesting
aspect of this wave of acquisitions is the growing number of public
companies that are being taken private, said Bob Filek, a Transaction
Services partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers who specializes in global
M&A.
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson mentioned this yesterday together with the declining number of initial public offerings on US markets. Others have more explicitly noted the connection to Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)
UPDATE: William Niskanen is among those calling to repeal SOX.
