At least in terms of CEOs and bankers, the Trump euphoria fades quickly

Corporate officials use phrases such as “fragile”, “volatility” and “waiting and seeing” to describe how they see the situation.

“No one knows what’s going on,” said Nick Pinchuk, CEO of the Snap-On tool maker at a fifth conference call. You go up to the facility, you go into the car, and you sit in the dark, and the cars drive left and right, left and right, and go suddenly. You don’t know where you are going, but you’re pretty sure you’re going to get to the right place at the bottom. ”

It seemed that the last turnaround on the cover was the most difficult way in trust in business leaders. President Trump has announced plans to collect 25% covers of imports from Canada and Mexico, just to postpone them a few days later. A number of senior executives, as well as senior investment bankers and other industry counselors, said their priorities have changed in recent days, and have been dealing to deal with the lids and other policy issues.

They should arrange supply routes, discuss whether prices should be raised and understand what happens at all. All this does not leave a lot of room to think about making big deals.

The response is evident in the transaction market. A little less than 900 transactions were announced in the US in January, according to LSG data.

“Tsunami later this year”

Even the hope that regulatory intervention is easier to have a harm. The Justice Department filed a lawsuit to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise for the purchase of $ 14 billion juniper. The companies, which produce wireless network products for large organizations, intend to protect the deal.

It is impossible to blame the macro environment in all the transactions. Buyers and sellers need to find agreement on many details, and these conversations can be reluctant for many reasons. The Japanese car manufacturers deal with Nissan and Honda is seen on the verge of collapse, and Bausch Health said its efforts to sell its subsidiary to contact lens products, Bausch + LOMB, to a private company that was interested in it.

There are still some CEOs who are eager to do transactions, even if the parties in front of them prefer not to do them. In January, six hostile transactions were announced or not consensual, one month of not seen since May 2018, according to LSG data.

CINTAS, product manufacturer for workplaces, has submitted a $ 5.1 billion purchase offer to the smaller unifirst uniform provider, and has been rejected several times. The Building Products distributor QXO provided a hostile offer for Beacon Roofing Supply, which in turn launched “poison pill” to try to stop it.

Senior executives, and Wall Street, still maintain optimism about the year, all and more deals than in recent years.

“The long -awaited mergers and acquisitions of 2025 have not yet hit the land, but the conditions are still ripe for coming later this year,” said Jim Langston, a partner in the mergers and acquisitions in the Paul Law Office, Weiss, Rapkind, Wardton and Garison.

Langston said that even though the last month, more or less relatively unexpectedly, historically the mergers and acquisitions’ activities did not grow after the US presidency – until the beginning of the second quarter.

“Don’t know what to say”

He and others say that customers who are private companies are also expecting to be more active later this year, for example. The private company Sycamore is still trying to take over Walgreens Boots Alliance, as Wall Street Journal reported, according to people who know the issue.

But in order to make these transactions, CEOs will have to feel more confident that they have today. The day after the elections, David Gaulo, CEO of the RAPT Studio design company from San Francisco, told his employees that he knows that they are probably experiencing a whirlwind of emotions. Although he did not vote for Trump, he tried to stay optimistic about the economy in the early days of the president.

However, after the first two weeks, Gaulo is worried. He plans to contact his employees again, but he does not find the words that much happens so quickly. “I don’t know what to say,” he said.