This report, published in association with Norton Rose Fulbright, features insights from 200 senior executives from multinational corporates, large private equity firms and major investment banks to highlight the opportunities and risks for M&A dealmaking in 2024.

Highlights include:

• Cautious optimism amid continued uncertainty in M&A. Looking at their own investment outlook, 59 percent expect their appetite for M&A to increase compared to 2023. This includes 23 percent who say it will increase significantly. However, views of the wider market are less optimistic. Just under half of respondents (47 percent) expecting global M&A activity to increase in 2024 compared to 2023.
• Rise of alternative financing. According to our respondent group, the most commonly used forms of financing will be cash reserves (cited by 90 percent) and private debt (91 percent).
• The AI boom. AI has become the hottest topic in tech. A third of respondents are looking to acquire an AI business. This rises to 54 percent among PE funds.
• Regulatory headwinds. Overall, the regulation that respondents say will most inhibit M&A in 2024 is antitrust regulation (33 percent identify it as one of the top-two types of policy most likely to suppress dealmaking). However, this skews toward advanced markets like the US (88 percent) and Europe (70 percent).
• ESG – two sides of the same coin? Nearly a quarter of respondents cite ESG regulations as one of the top-two factors most likely to suppress M&A in 2024. On the other hand, ESG guidance is also frequently highlighted as a deal driver. At face value, these two findings seem inconsistent, but in practice, one is the solution to the other. New regulation creates uncertainty for which guidance is the antidote, providing clarity of application and opening the field for compliant activity.

The report is also available at nortonrosefulbright.com.