People Mentioned
Partner, Corporate, Toronto
There are deals yet to come in 2024, despite a slow first half of the year. At least, that’s the consensus opinion gathered by Gail J. Cohen after interviewing a number of lawyers for an article for ALM Law.com, including Co-Chair of Osler’s Mergers and Acquisitions group and Corporate partner Alex Gorka.
Gorka singles out mining as one area that has been strong this year, noting that approximately 35% of deals that happened so far in 2024 have happened in this sector. The continuing clean-energy and electric vehicle transitions are likely to encourage more mining-related deal making.
No matter the sector, Gorka says there is one factor that should help to drive deals in Canada and that’s the weakness of the Canadian dollar versus the American dollar. With exchange rates being what they currently are, this is “an opportune time for U.S. shoppers here.”
He also notes that private equity is getting more involved than it has been in the recent past, with 30% of the public M&A deals this year being sponsored by private equity — a 10% increase over the historical trend.
Gorka said although M&A teams aren’t “breaking at the seams” to the same degree that they were in 2021 and 2022, the year has been strong enough that his Osler team has recently hired new associates in the Toronto office.
Subscribers can access the full article on Law.com.
People Mentioned
Partner, Corporate, Toronto
