According to a survey of 300 M&A professionals in the Asia Pacific region conducted by Intralinks, a secure content collaboration company used by dealmakers, three-quarter of M&A banking professionals believe M&A activity in this region could be negatively impacted if US presidential candidate and current Republican primary frontrunner Donald Trump were to become president. These sentiments are similar to the global sentiments expressed in the survey that Intralinks conducted with 1,500 M&A professionals worldwide.
According to Intralinks’ Global M&A Sentiment Survey results, 75 per cent of Asian dealmakers view Trump as the presidential candidate most likely to have a detrimental effect on the level of M&A activities. Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton is perceived as the candidate most likely to have a positive impact on M&A activity amongst all the other presidential candidates across all regions. In Asia, 51 per cent of dealmakers think that Clinton will have a positive impact on global M&A activities while 43 per cent polled said she would have no impact.
Globally, dealmakers think that Trump, if elected, would be more detrimental to financial markets and M&A activity than Senator Bernie Sanders. This is despite the fact that Sanders, a self-described socialist, is sharply critical of financial services companies and advocates for stronger regulation of the sector.
Interestingly, US respondents are more positive about Trump having less of a negative impact on global M&A than Bernie Sanders: 46 per cent of US respondents stated that they believe Trump will have a negative impact versus 73 per cent who believe that Sanders is less pro global business.