Article content(Bloomberg) — Boston Consulting Group Chief Executive Officer Christoph Schweizer said M&A discussions behind closed corporate doors are proving livelier than the modest rebound in dealmaking prospects found by his own firm would indicate.
“I have many conversations with leaders around the world, across all industries, and the topic of M&A is much more prominent than it was a year ago,” Schweizer said Thursday during a roundtable discussion at Bloomberg’s New York office.
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While the global value of mergers and acquisitions activity during the year’s first half was higher than during the same period in 2023, it still lags behind the 10-year average, according to BCG’s M&A Sentiment Index.
The index, which gauges monthly M&A market momentum, currently stands at 78. While that’s up from the low point of 62 in November, it still suggests that corporate decision makers and investors expect below-average activity over the next six months.
“It’s not going to be a dramatic bounce back,” Schweizer said. Nevertheless, he expects continued improvement.
That includes more opportunities in health care, life sciences and technology, as well as from the reshuffling of portfolios in the energy and industrials space.
Schweizer predicted a “dramatic reduction” in manual tasks in marketing and underwriting thanks to artificial intelligence. That could extend to the drudgery of M&A due diligence, which typically requires analysts to spend hundreds of hours condensing company reports and data to measure a potential target’s performance.
BCG wants to be at the forefront of adopting AI, he said.
“With some of the assessment of the market environments, competitor profiles, or expert opinions, we actually work hand in hand with our clients on capturing that opportunity.”
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