Mergers and acquisitions have largely ground to a halt in Australia as the COVID-19 crisis makes many deals too difficult to execute, but lawyers expect the market to pick up as buyers sitting on cash seek low-priced assets.
Doing deals under current conditions is especially tough, given that asset prices have been thrown into doubt and most face-to-face meetings and asset inspections are impossible. But adding to the difficulty are more stringent rules for foreign acquisitions, introduced by the government to stop foreign companies from scooping up nationally significant assets wounded by the crisis.
