NZ mergers and acquisitions volumes to remain strong

​Chapman Tripp’s annual Mergers & Acquisitions – trends and insights publication expects New Zealand mergers and acquisitions (M&A) volumes to remain strong into the first half of 2019.

2018 was a good year for M&A activity, both globally and in New Zealand, with strong demand from cashed up buyers and generally benign economic conditions providing a tail wind. The outlook for this year is for continuing high buyer interest, buoyed by the opportunity to obtain high-value acquisitions in a slightly less seller-friendly market.
But concerns around geopolitical and economic volatility, although present last year, are now becoming much more immediate – and this may infect sentiment as the year progresses.

New Zealand’s remoteness makes us an attractive investment destination in turbulent times. Certainly, we are continuing to experience strong demand from cashed up investors, which we expect to be supported by a shift to more buyer friendly deal terms as we reach the peak of the sellers’ market which has prevailed over the past two years.

Therefore, we approach 2019 with optimism but mindful that, with so many potentially destabilising factors in play, some of them capable of producing very large consequences, the prospect of a downturn in M&A volumes and values cannot be ruled out.

Read the Chapman Tripp report