Chairman's Message - March 2020
By Mark Herndon, Chairman of M&A Leadership Council 

First and foremost, as the world responds to COVID-19, we wish each of our readers health, safety, and stability during these unprecedented events.

Like your organization, operations at the M&A Leadership Council are impacted by lock-down requirements and temporary closings of several event venues forcing the cancellation of the planned onsite workshops in March and April. We will evaluate workshops later in the year on a case-by-case basis. In the meantime, we are fully operational on a virtual basis and committed to bringing you the best in M&A thought leadership, best practices, continuous education, certification, and professional development.

Over the last few days, we asked for your quick inputs to an initial pulse survey, COVID-19: Assessing Impact on Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions. We will be publishing results in a forthcoming live webinar and related blog articles. Initial results and insights are instructive as leaders begin thinking about the recovery and various implications on M&A strategy and operations. One preliminary insight – as fully anticipated, approximately 24% of respondents predict a substantial decrease in deal activity throughout 2020. Conversely, 52% of respondents expect only a temporary pause as the economy stabilizes somewhat. Further, 18% anticipate no impact on continued 2020 deal activity, while 6% say the current economic environment will accelerate their previously planned level of M&A activity for 2020.

We look forward to sharing the full results with you in the coming days.

Very best regards,

Mark Herndon
Chairman, M&A Leadership Council