Michael Okaty on 2025 M&A Outlook – 'Over the past year, strategics made a comeback'

Foley & Lardner LLP partner Michael Okaty is quoted in the Middle Market Growth article, “Unwavering Optimism,” offering perspective on the M&A market outlook for 2025.

“Over the past year, strategics made a comeback,” Okaty explained. “When PE buyers were largely sitting out, strategics came in and said, ‘Hey, we’re a strong company with a balance sheet, so let’s buy a competitor.’ Where they may have previously lost in a bidding war, now they are actually succeeding.”

He noted that over the last few years, the M&A market shifted from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market and is once again moving back to the former. “Of almost 30,000 portfolio companies, over half of them are four- or five-year vintages, meaning there is a maturity event coming up where PE firms need to become sellers,” Okaty added.