M&A 2019 Annual Review

Tech Activity Tech M&A value in the first quarter of 2019 exceeded that of the first quarter of 2018. As the year ended, tech M&A deal value had fallen from that of 2018, but the number of deals remained strong. Healthcare Activity The strong healthcare M&A market that began in 2018 continued in 2019, with mega-mergers like Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene, Danaher and General Electric’s biopharma business, and Centene and Wellcare. Healthcare M&A outpaced M&A overall, with value rising about 26% over 2018. 2 Cross-Border Activity Cross-border M&A fell to $1.2 trillion, the lowest total since 2013, 3 in the face of concerns over regional economies and international and domestic political tensions, including trade disputes and uncertainty over Brexit. Many of these trends will continue into 2020. The new year is also an election year in the U.S., and companies will be watching for signs of changes that might affect prospects for growth or the costs, or benefits, of M&A. But with stock prices high and cash available, companies have the resources to make acquisitions as they find opportunities. In this alert, we review some of the key developments arising from last year’s M&A activity, and consider how they might affect the level of M&A and how deals get done going forward. Learn more about Morrison & Foerster’s Global M&A Practice. 1 P RIVACY LAWS EXPAND IN THE U.S. AND GLOBALLY M&A dealmakers are scrambling to keep up with significant changes in privacy laws in the U.S. and other countries, both to assess the impact on potential deal value and to implement appropriate compliance measures. Although particularly important for transactions involving data-driven companies, these changes affect virtually all companies in some fashion. • Prominent among these changes is the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which as of January 1, 2020 created landmark rights for California residents to request access to the personal information that companies maintain about them, request deletion of that information, and opt out of the “sale” of their personal information. Moreover, CCPA allows California residents to file civil lawsuits for certain types of data security breaches. California’s new IoT data security law and new data broker law also took effect in January 2020. • Nevada modified its online privacy law to give individuals a right to opt out of the sale of their personal information (albeit relatively narrower than the right provided under the CCPA). Over a dozen other states are considering expansive new consumer privacy legislation. The expansion of state law initiatives has also led to more vocal proposals for a federal privacy law. Source: 451 Research’s M&A KnowledgeBase Tech M&A Deal Activity by Year 2015-2019 Deal Value Deal Count VISIT OUR CCPA RESOURCE CENTER 2 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 500B 400B 300B 200B 100B 0 $578B $468.4B $345B $586.3B $460.8B