This is a great description of the M&A market year-to-date. I look forward to seeing the update throughout May/June.
After the M&A market’s disappointing end to 2022, many predicted that the slowed deal activity would carry over to 2023 and that it would be another down year. Even those who thought 2023 might get off to a slow start, staying closer to 2022 levels, could have thought that deal volumes would ultimately mimic pre-2021 levels. It was hard to imagine M&A deal volumes dropping lower than those at the end of 2022, but that is exactly what happened.
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