Latest news with #LucindaGuthrie
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
M&A is slowing in US but accelerating worldwide during new Trump era
US dealmaking is down in the new Trump era but accelerating in other parts of the world. The volume of announced US mergers and acquisitions as measured in dollar value fell 5.7% for the year through April 28, to $586.5 million, when compared with the same period last year, according to Dealogic data. That is the slowest start for US M&A in two years. On the other hand, deal volume outside of the US posted its best year to date result since 2022. Announced mergers in the rest of the world surged 43% in dollar value through April 28 from the same period a year ago, to $702 million. US dealmaking had a tepid stretch in April as President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement triggered widespread uncertainty about the economy and ushered in a period of extreme volatility for markets. Some companies put deals on hold as they waited for greater clarity about the path ahead. On April 9, the president paused many of the Liberation Day duties for 90 days to give countries time to negotiate new trade deals with the US. "M&A is like a barometer of business confidence, and people are feeling uncertain and the changes are very hard for boardrooms to work out," Lucinda Guthrie, head of data provider Mergermarket, told Yahoo Finance last week. "A number of processes have been pulled or paused" through April ahead of planned public announcements, Guthrie added. US M&A volume fell 8% during the month through April 28, according to Dealogic. Merger volume across the rest of the world gained 2%. The subdued start to 2025 is a disappointment for many on Wall Street who hoped the president's economic agenda would unleash a new dealmaking boom. Goldman CEO David Solomon told Bloomberg on Tuesday that "policy actions to date have raised the level of uncertainty to a degree that I don't think is healthy for investment and growth, and I think it's going to be important that we get more clarity." There have been signs of some activity, however. The two largest deals of the year so far — Alphabet's (GOOG) $32 billion agreement to acquire Wiz and Sycamore Partners' move to take Walgreens private — happened in March, according to Dealogic, as did eight of the other top 15 deals. And things did improve in February and March, before Trump's April 2 announcement. In fact, the merger advisory business at Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), and Morgan Stanley (MS) climbed 5% collectively during the first quarter from a year ago, to $2.8 billion. Some US corporations also don't have the luxury of waiting for trade policy to settle, forcing them to get more creative in deal structuring. Boeing (BA) last Tuesday announced plans to sell portions of its digital aviation software unit to private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $10.55 billion, all in cash. Earlier this month, US semiconductor firm Intel (INTC) announced plans to sell a 51% stake in its programmable chip unit, Altera, to private equity firm Silver Lake. Silver Lake is deferring $1 billion of the purchase to be paid out over the next two years, according to an SEC filing. "If the level of uncertainty grows from here, yes, you won't see the same amount of capital markets activity," Goldman's Solomon said during a Tuesday Bloomberg interview in Oslo, Norway. "But my own belief is things will settle down." David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto, and other areas in finance. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices Sign in to access your portfolio
New York Times
13-02-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
Honda and Nissan Scrap $50 Billion Merger Plan
A $50 billion merger between Honda Motor and Nissan Motor, which would have established one of the world's largest auto groups, has been called off. In December, Japan's second- and third-largest automakers said they were exploring plans to combine their operations with the goal of sharing costs and jointly developing next-generation vehicles. Both companies said in a statement on Thursday that they were walking away from talks. The swift reversal underscores a growing recognition in the industry that sprawling auto alliances, often relied upon in the past to build scale and increase market share, may not be the answer for automakers scrambling to catch up with rapid technological changes. Traditional automakers in Japan, the United States and Europe are facing mounting competition from newcomers like Tesla and China's BYD, which have established a commanding lead in electric vehicles and technologies that enable semiautonomous driving and remote updates. As the auto industry shifts toward vehicles that resemble 'robots on wheels,' merging two giants to try and catch up was 'just automakers going back to what they know, rather than embracing change,' said Lucinda Guthrie, the head of Mergermarket, a data provider. Ford Motor and Volkswagen, for instance, teamed up a few years ago to work on electric vehicles and autonomous driving. The companies ultimately shut down their self-driving car initiative, and have derived few benefits from collaborating on electric vehicles. Honda had a partnership with General Motors, and currently sells two electric sport utility vehicles, the Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX, that are manufactured by G.M. But in 2023, the companies said they would not extend their partnership beyond those two models. Even at the outset of its talks with Nissan, Honda's top executives faced internal resistance to merging with another automaker. Nissan is restructuring its operations after a significant profit decline, and Honda's managers were concerned about Nissan's financial health. They also questioned the potential benefits of a deal. Honda eventually proposed a take-it-or-leave-it plan to make Nissan its subsidiary. Nissan rejected the offer, as it diverged from earlier ideas of creating a holding company with both brands as subsidiaries. Nissan's leadership felt the proposal undervalued the company. Ms. Guthrie of Mergermarket said she thought that Nissan could benefit from seeking a new partner, potentially outside the traditional automotive realm. For both Nissan and Honda, 'the pressures they face wouldn't have changed with the merger,' Ms. Guthrie said. 'You either embrace the future, or you stick with what you know,' she added. 'Maybe the breakup will be what it takes.' One possible suitor for Nissan is the Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn. Young Liu, the chairman of Foxconn, said on Wednesday that the company would consider buying a stake in Nissan, though the preference would be to simply partner with the automaker.
