Hard Financial Times

If you have heard that there were fewer Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) transactions completed in 2008 versus the previous year, you heard correctly. According to Piper Jaffray, there were $29 billion in M&A deals (212 deals) in the first quarter, compared with $219 billion (1,147 deals) over the same period the year before.

Access to capital is more limited, especially for smaller, less-capitalized companies. Issuance and trading are down in markets such as bank loans, mortgage-related financing, auction-rate securities and other formerly liquid sectors. Many major Wall Street institutions are avoiding making unwise choices right now due to what they saw happen to Bear Stearns.