Quarterly Q&A – Winter 2020

Q: When will we return to “normal”?

A: Advisors are  divided on when they think the M&A market will return to pre-pandemic conditions.  Nearly a third (29%) think that the market will return to normal in Q2 2021 but yet 20% believe that we’ll be waiting until 2022 or later.  One-tenth (11%) of advisors are having great success in this market and believe conditions have already recovered.  “Those of us representing larger, pandemic-proof businesses are seeing unprecedented interest from buyers right now” said Scott Bushkie, President of Cornerstone Business Services in the Q3 2020 Market Pulse Report. He continued , “buyers are still looking for good opportunities, but so many sellers are holding back and staying on the sidelines…driving wide imbalances in supply and demand.  We also know that unemployment is driving some buyers to market.”  Meanwhile, advisors do expect a small uptick in sellers going to market by the end of the year.  This is a marked difference  from the pessimism they showed in the  1st quarter.