The M&A landscape is constantly changing, and the evolution of the dealmaking environment has been accelerated by the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, unprecedented stimulus packages and the change in U.S. administration. What sectors should opportunistic dealmakers be exploring? What obstacles or pitfalls may affect deal flow? In this new environment, how can dealmakers justify and position a proposed merger for a deal that seemingly can’t get done and what are key strategic steps that should be built into the plan? What does the new regulatory approval landscape look like? What role will M&A play in the overall global economic recovery?

Moderator: J. Neely, Managing Director, Mergers & Acquisitions Lead, Accenture Strategy

Panelist: Barry Blake, Global Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking, SVB Leerink

Panelist: Yue Bonnet, Principal, The Carlyle Group

Panelist: Jelena Guzenko, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions, Americas, Siemens Energy

Panelist: Julia Papastavridis, Managing Director, Aon

Panelist: Melissa Scanlan, Vice President, IP & Antitrust, T-Mobile

Interviewer: Armie Lee, Reporter, The Deal

Elizabeth A. Mily, Executive Vice President, Strategy & Business Development, Bristol Myers Squibb

Private Equity professionals continue to feel bullish and have a positive outlook for M&A, due to favorable credit conditions and large amounts of available dry powder. The market is seeing PE firms gravitating toward partnerships, co-investing and structured equity investments to remain flexible and creative. In such a competitive market, returns should be compressing but why are they not? What are the pressure points that are moving forward, or holding back the industry as a whole? How are ESG and investor demands shaping the way investors are approaching deals? What are investor expectations for the rest of the year and into 2022?

Moderator: Bruce K. Fenton, Partner, Troutman Pepper

Panelist: Vivianne Akriche, Managing Director, Eurazeo

Panelist: Jeffrey Armbrister, Head of Direct Equity Investments, Hamilton Lane

Panelist: Jason Strife, Head of Private Equity & Junior Capital, Churchill Asset Management

Successful integration is imperative to avoiding the risks of a merger or acquisition, and it is complicated by the fact that every deal is unique, and no two deals can be integrated the same way. Having a strong and proactive M&A integration plan is imperative to ensuring that the deal lives up to its projected value, and post-merger planning must start very early in the deal process. Companies must develop an integration strategy that includes a fundamental rethink of due diligence and discovery to ensure that the right skills are engaged at the right time to deliver a comprehensive plan for day one and beyond.

Moderator: Nikitha Sattiraju, Reporter, The Deal

Panelist: Desiree Castillejos, Chief Strategy Officer & VP of Corporate Development, Kimball Electronics

Panelist: Brian Walters, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Matthews International

Panelist: Alexandros Aldous, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Chief Government Relations Officer, The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc.

Panelist: Ronald Prague, Former Chief Legal Officer, Synchronoss Technologies, Inc.

Companies that transformed through innovation and technology during the pandemic have emerged stronger, with increased efficiency and new products and services that disrupted the market. Valuations remain high, targets are coming from a growing pool of sellers, paused deals are re-emerging and private equity still has record amounts of capital to deploy. What role will M&A play in the overall global economic recovery? What sectors are dealmakers looking at for growth? What is the outlook for fundraising, and alternative deal structures? Will cross-border and cross-sector deals present opportunity during the recovery? What obstacles may affect deal flow?

Moderator: Kimberly Smith, Partner and Global Chair, Corporate Department, Katten

Panelist: Jaime Forsyth, Managing Director, Monomoy Capital Partners

Panelist: Jennifer Lee, Principal, Edison Partners

Panelist: Heather Madland, Partner, Huron Capital

Panelist: Meahgan O’Grady, Director, Business Development, Palladium Equity Partners

This past year has seen successes an array of campaigns by shareholder activists with an increased focus on ESG practices and several campaigns with a strong M&A theme. How important are ESG themes in an activism campaign? How is the M&A market currently being influenced by shareholder activism and vice versa? With the recent influx of SPAC entities on public exchanges, will we soon see a wave of SPAC activism? How do investors and proxy advisor firms think about these issues?

Moderator: Derek Zaba, Partner and Co-Chair, Shareholder Activism and Corporate Defense Practice, Sidley

Panelist: Ben Axler, Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Spruce Point Capital Management

Panelist: Josh Hochberg, General Manager, Edelman

Panelist: David Rosewater, Managing Director, Investment Banking Division, Morgan Stanley

ESG initiatives can severely impact profits and must be considered during the due diligence process of a transaction. How are buyers and investors evaluating targets based on ESG and sustainability transparency? How can these efforts affect valuations and sale processes? How do sellers ensure they are maximizing their ESG initiatives and show they are making progress on sustainability initiatives? What are the most important things for sellers to address when it comes to ESG?

Moderator: Ronald Orol, Senior Editor, The Deal

Panelist: Doug Barnard, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary, CF Industries

Panelist: Michael Hyun, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, PSEG