This week, Taxand published its annual Global Guide to M&A Tax. It provides insight into the tax treatment of global mergers and acquisitions in 33 countries and an introduction to M&A tax planning in each of the diverse fiscal environments in its scope.
The unprecedented M&A cycle in which we find ourselves shows no signs of slowing halfway through 2018. Although global economic strength clearly is providing fuel to this hot deal market, the following key factors are also fanning these flames, encouraging active market participants to continue engaging in M&A and those sitting on the sidelines to abandon their wait-and-see approaches. These are:
- United States Tax Reform
- Private Equity Dry Powder
- Brexit and European Elections
- Base Erosion Profit Shifting Initiative (“BEPS”)
- Shareholder Activism
The strong global economy and the factors mentioned above should continue to fuel global M&A activity in the short term. Cross-border M&A should continue to expand at a faster pace than purely domestic M&A as developing countries participate to a greater extent than ever in global markets. All indicators point toward a strong 2018 in M&A activity.
