The Flash Crash: Collateral Damage? ACG members weigh in on the impact of the stock market's volatility on M&A.(ACG/The Pulse)(mergers and acquisition)

Byline: Editorial Staff

Interestingly, while I think we don't really know what the flash crash impact will be, my perception is that this flash crash will have the opposite effect. M&A is up, but more notably - we had 50 S-1 filings in Q1 and we are on track to have over 100 S-1 filings in Q2. Now we all know that most of these companies will not go public and the flash crash might indeed reduce the number of IPO's even more.

However, by listing, these companies are signaling they are willing to expose all their details and that they are probably better prepared for a transaction. So I think with more S-1 filings and a rollercoaster market, we will indeed see increased M&A as a result of the flash crashes. The S-1 filings do indeed signal that a company probably has its house in order; this indicates due diligence might indeed go more smoothly and the M&A process might not hit some of the speed bumps that frequently …