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What M&A’s Busiest Year Means for Sellers

2021 is going to be a good year for Footprint Capital. “We’re the busiest this year that we’ve ever been,” Managing Director Josh Curtis, says. While the investment bank has a few buy-side transactions in the works, most of its activity has been with sellers looking to capitalize on a strong 2020 while racing to beat the potential enactment of capital gains taxes. The urge on the part of owners to take advantage of the favorable M&A market is creating some issues for deal professionals. “We’re still talking to a handful of prospects that are contemplating potentially doing a transaction before year end, which is becoming more and more challenging as time goes on here,” Josh says. “Just the time it takes to do a transaction as well as the schedules of all the advisors out there, whether it’s advisors like us in investment banking, whether it’s the lawyers or quality of earnings providers, things of that nature. I think it’s becoming a real challenge to have a high likelihood to get something closed if you haven’t started yet.” Josh spoke on the Smart Business Dealmakers Podcast about his view of the market from both the sell-side and buy-side, as well as his sense of how things could play out for the balance of the year.

Read on for an excerpt from the conversation.