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Redbird’s Cardinal says Paramount consultants will work on Christmas
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Corporate boards more aggressive, less antitrust scrutiny amid geopolitical uncertainties
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Morgan Stanley sees broad-based activity across industry sectors
By Don Kopecky and Anousha Sakoui
NEW YORK (AP) — A flurry of billion-dollar deals has bankers and advisers from Wall Street to Canary Wharf packing laptops next to gifts and warning family and friends that their holiday vacations will be cut short in the next two weeks. According to data compiled by Dealogic, $463.6 billion of mergers and acquisitions have been announced this month, up 30% from last year, including Trump Media & Technology Group’s $6 billion merger with nuclear fusion firm TAE Technologies, IBM’s $11 billion purchase of data infrastructure company Confluent and the bidding war between Paramount Skydance and Netflix for Warner Bros. Discovery.
“It’s the hunt and the kill, and we all enjoy it,” said Charles Ruck, a partner at Latham & Watkins, which is advising Paramount on its bid for Warner Bros. “I’m not telling anyone not to travel. I’m telling them, wherever you are, I may need some of your time.” This weekend, a group of private equity firms led by Permira and Warburg Pincus struck a deal to buy investment and accounting software maker Clearwater Analytics Holdings for about $8.4 billion, including debt. “It’s busy, and it’s really broad-based… We’re seeing a fair amount of activity across most of our industry sectors,” said John Collins, global head of M&A at Morgan Stanley.
Warner Bros. is bidding war
This holiday season is shaping up to be one of the most active in recent years, according to interviews with nearly a dozen bankers and legal advisers.
Citigroup investment bankers said last month was the busiest November in years. Dealmakers from New York to London and Hong Kong say they are trying to close multibillion-dollar deals before the ball drops in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. As the C-suite becomes more aggressive, many large companies are looking to hire consultants before the end of the year to make larger deals in 2026. Two dealmakers in London and New York say they plan to work through the holidays, while some are optimistic they will also work on Christmas Day and, undoubtedly, Christmas Eve. It may be more difficult for the bankers, consultants and public relations professionals working on the Warner Bros. deal. The bidding war keeps them close to their phones and laptops this holiday season, while some people work during the Christmas season. On Monday, Paramount revised its hostile bid to $108.4 billion, which is being jointly financed by Redbird Capital Partners, with an extended deadline of January 21.
“We will be working through the holidays and into the first week of January to convince shareholders of the merits of our proposal,” Gerry Cardinale, Redbird’s founder and chief investment officer, said on CNBC on Monday.
It’s far from the only deal in town. Latham’s Rook, who declined to discuss the Warner Bros. talks, told Reuters last week that the company expected to announce at least four more deals in the next two weeks.
“Our team understands it without me even having to say it,” he said. “They recognize that this is a magical moment, that these magical moments don’t last forever, that we’re on the front page, on cutting-edge deals.”
It has turned out to be an extraordinary year for deal makers after activity was derailed in the second quarter due to the trade war initiated by US President Donald Trump. Globally, M&A activity surged to more than $4.8 trillion as of last week, making it the second-best year on record behind 2021, when near-zero interest rates and COVID stimulus drove M&A to more than $6 trillion.
Deal pipeline strong for early 2026
At Sullivan & Cromwell, partner Frank Aquila plans to work during the holidays. The pipeline for the first half of next year is “very strong”, which he said could rival 2021.
“It will absolutely be a working holiday,” he said in an interview.
Guillermo Begual, global co-head of M&A at Citigroup, said his team is “extremely busy. There’s a lot happening in both the corporate and sponsor worlds.”
A lot of corporate clients are hiring advisers for “significant transactions across a variety of sectors,” he said.
Collins said: “We went through a few years where it felt like management teams and boards were looking for reasons to say no. We’ve seen a real shift in philosophy towards finding reasons to say yes.”
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.