I’m Sonia Nijjar, a Corporate partner at Skadden. The corporate section of our annual Insights discusses some of the most significant legal and market developments anticipated in 2022.
- Last year was extraordinarily active, with M&A hitting a record high of 5.9 trillion dollars in deals worldwide and IPOs skyrocketing in the U.S.
- The SPAC boom helped feed merger activity as they sought targets. And the billions of remaining capital raised in IPOs should sustain M&A activity well into 2022.
- However, anticipated regulatory changes in a number of jurisdictions could complicate deal making.
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• Demands for greater corporate accountability are fundamentally reshaping governance agendas.
- Activists were a noteworthy factor in 2021, and will continue to be, given their ongoing access to significant capital.
- ESG issues also are a priority and will reframe corporate strategies and legal planning.
- But shareholder pressure on companies is not limited to the U.S. and Europe. We also discuss how activist campaigns and legal reforms are beginning to alter Japanese corporate governance.
- And while expansive stimulus and monetary policy helped limit restructurings, debt maturities are looming.
- That’s the context in which we’re writing about the corporate-related issues we’re anticipating. We hope you find our “Insights” both interesting and useful.