US presidential election 2016: Donald Trump would be worse for deals activity than Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, survey of 1,500 M&A bankers finds
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) bankers are more worried about the prospect of Donald Trump than Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist.
Some 62 per cent of 1,500 M&A banking professionals worldwide believe Trump, the Republican frontrunner, would have a negative impact on activity in their area.
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This compares with 45 per cent who said the same about Sanders, according to the Intralinks survey.
Concern is strongest in Latin America, where 83 per cent said he would have a negative impact. The figure is 71 per cent in Europe, but less – 46 per cent – in the US itself.
Globally, 45 per cent of those surveyed believe Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton would have a positive impact of M&A activity.
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However, in the US only, Trump outperforms Clinton.
Some 31 per cent said Trump would be positive for M&A, compared with 29 per cent who said the same about Clinton and seven per cent for Sanders.
Matt Porzio, vice president of M&A strategy at Intralinks, said: “Our data shows that Donald Trump is a cause of concern among global dealmakers, who rank him as the candidate most likely to have a negative impact on M&A by a wide margin.”