Early in 2021 we predicted New Zealand’s comparative success due to its COVID-19 response favouring acquisition activity. But nothing prepared us for the volume and pace of deal-making that followed.
In our fifth annual M&A Forecast, we look back on the biggest year for M&A activity on record. We examine the factors driving the activity in the market and how these factors will continue to play a key role in deal transactions in the coming year.
We predict that 2022 will see:
- a continuation of high deal volumes and M&A activity across many of the country’s sectors;
- the focus remaining on deal activity in the healthcare, technology and financial sectors, with the food and beverage sector also beginning to attract interest;
- large international investors continuing to see New Zealand’s market as highly desirable as global competition increases;
- an increase of local, privately owned mid-market companies deciding the time is right to bring their businesses to market;
- growth in sustainable finance products and a rise in distressed financing;
- a settling in period following changes to the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) regime in 2021; and
- buyers paying greater attention to local case law surrounding warranty protection and the remedies available to them when there is a breach.