DealZone

A survey of top dealmakers found that merger activity will increase during the balance of 2010, a sharp contrast in sentiment from last year.

A survey conducted by Brunswick Group LLC found that 78 percent of respondents expect M&A activity will continue to rise, while 22 percent said it would stay at the same pace seen in the first quarter.

Mergers and acquisitions topped more than $520 billion in the first quarter, up 19 percent from the first quarter of 2009, according to Thomson Reuters. Emerging markets and energy-focused takeovers made up a growing slice of the activity in the first quarter. Still, merger volume dropped 16 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009.

No advisors predicted a drop in deal activity for the remainder of 2010, according to the Brunswick survey. That’s in contrast to the 69 percent of respondents last year who said it would would take up to five years to return to the level of M&A activity seen in 2007.

The third annual survey polled 48 market participants in the M&A community, including bankers, lawyers and other advisors. Results were released on the eve of the 22nd Annual Tulane University Law School Corporate Law Institute, a top M&A conference.

A poll from UBS and the Boston Consulting Group finds a “surprisingly healthy” one in five European companies is likely to make a significant (EUR 500 mln+ in sales) acquisition in 2010. Some of the other key findings:

“Corporates are seeking growth: Strategic and growth-related considerations such as expansion of product offering, access to new geographies and access to new customers and distribution channels were the three most cited drivers of M&A activity, from a choice of 12 drivers.

“Lack of attractive targets and company valuations are main M&A barriers: Lack of attractive targets (cited by 40% of respondents) and, reflecting the speed and extent of stock markets’ recovery, high valuations (cited by 39% of
respondents) were the most commonly cited barriers to M&A.

A web-based survey of more than 40 European institutional investors by investment bank Jefferies shows most -- 83 percent of those who responded -- are not expecting a re-opening of the IPO market in the UK and Continental Europe before the middle of 2010.

Only 23 percent of the analysts, portfolio managers and dealers surveyed reckon the IPO market will re-open by the end of this year.

Seems the world is still split on what type of companies will be floated though:

And earn-outs are in. So says a new survey looking at almost 500 European deals from 2007-08 (most below $500m). As I wrote:

“The balance of power in European mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has shifted towards buyers, with deals containing more legal safeguards against a purchase turning sour, a survey released on Tuesday showed.

“The survey, by lawyers and accountants CMS, found more deals now contain ‘earn-out’ or ‘material adverse change’ clauses to protect buyers, and they often get longer to assess if a business is all it was promised to be.”