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‘The diversity and breadth of deals is as exciting as ever’
Deal-makers will play an increasing role in helping their clients navigate regulatory and tech-related challenges, according to this award-winning partner.
Lauren Croft
With the M&A market expected to continue to grow, and deals increase in value over the course of 2022, being able to successfully navigate the changing landscape of regulatory issues will be paramount.
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In conversation with Lawyers Weekly, Bryony Evans, partner at King & Wood Mallesons and winner of the Dealmaker of the Year category at last year’s Women in Law Awards, said that as the M&A space continues to boom, there are a number of areas of growth to be aware of.
“We’re seeing financial services organisations prioritising simplification of their business models,” she said.
“There’s growth too in deals involving health, health tech and new AI and data players. An understanding of the intersection of tech, data and complex separation arrangements is more important than ever before.”
Additionally, Ms Evans said that a “continued focus on tech and data investments, particularly in the financial services and retail spaces”, will be a trend to look out for, as companies look to differentiate offerings from other competitors, reflecting the uptick in online services post-COVID.
“The diversity and breadth of deals, plus their complexity, is as exciting as ever. We’re also seeing opportunities involve legal technology in deals to help reduce manual hours and increase the focus on the complex end of transactions. It has a transformative effect both for clients and our people,” she added.
“The impact of a changing regulatory landscape (including in the financial services and tech space) will also create new dimensions for deals in the next year and beyond.”
Deal-makers need to be aware of areas like privacy and financial services regulation, as well as newer challenges relating to AI and other tech, added Ms Evans.
“[There are] multi-dimensional issues relating to use of AI technology – there are important ethical, governance issues and legal issues. Organisations using AI – or looking at how they might – will need to grapple with these as they continue to evolve,” she said.
“Lawyers will play a role in helping clients navigate them. Proposed EU regulation in this space provides a fascinating example of how it could be regulated for Australian organisations in the future. I also think the Consumer Data Rights regime and the value of consumer data is an exciting area that should be on the radar of tech lawyers.”
This follows a number of predictions that the M&A boom will continue into 2022, as seen in reports from Herbert Smith Freehills and Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
The release of HSF’s fifth annual global M&A report, M&A in 2022: FOMO overcomes FOGO, identifies continued drivers for strong activity in 2022. According to the report, initial pandemic-related FOGO (fear of going out) has largely been replaced with FOMO (fear of missing out) on the new opportunities that it is presenting.
Meanwhile, Corrs Chambers Westgarth’s M&A 2022 Outlook report, released late last year, predicted a similar trend; despite ongoing COVID-19 disruptions, investor optimism coupled with low-interest rates and significant amounts of deployable capital will mean deal activity will remain elevated for the majority of 2022.
