Target Company M&A Readiness For 2024

Despite challenging macroeconomic trends as we head into 2024, overall M&A activity in the Canadian market remains robust. For many public companies, in fact, the conditions may be ripe for unsolicited M&A proposals—undervalued public company share prices, shareholders pressuring companies for performance improvement and liquidity, and potentially less competition among buyers who may not have access (or the appetite) for financing in the current high-interest rate environment. Unsolicited M&A proposals come in a wide variety of forms: some will be preliminary while others will be ready to execute; some will be friendly, others may be hostile. Whatever the circumstances, companies will need to be prepared to consider, evaluate and potentially respond to any of these situations. In this article we discuss M&A preparedness for target public companies and steps they can take on receipt of an unsolicited M&A proposal.