‘The wind was taken out of everyone’s sails’ – the M&A report 2023

2021 was always going to be a tough year to follow. Quite how tough, few could have foreseen at the start of 2022.

With global annual deal values totalling almost $6trn – a jump of more than 60% on 2020 – 2021 was roundly described in breathless superlatives. Following a year of pent-up demand during the pandemic, soaring levels of M&A activity were fuelled by the vaulting ambition of private equity (PE) houses, a surge in tech and pharmaceutical sector deals, and a boom in activity from special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).