European M&A Trends
This year, against a challenging backdrop, deal makers are remarkably bullish. Despite economic headwinds, repercussions of the war in Ukraine, vendor/acquirer valuation gaps and a challenging financing environment, most respondents expect European M&A activity to increase over the next year and the majority have deals on the horizon.
Louise Wallace
Partner
Global Head of the CMS Corporate/M&A Group
Louise Wallace has been a partner in the Corporate Team since 1997 and is a member of CMS’ Executive Committee.
She covers all aspects of M&A, private equity, corporate finance, takeovers, joint ventures, corporate outsourcing, integrations and governance, and all forms of corporate restructurings.
Louise specialises in the hotels & leisure and the consumer and retail sectors. She is ranked in the top tier of Chambers 2016 for her work in the hotels & leisure sector and is recognised in Chambers for M&A (High End) GBP 250m+ deals.
Louise has acted on many of the leading M&A transactions in the Hotels & Leisure sector. She has advised owners and financiers on countless Management and Franchise Agreements with Hilton, IHG, Marriott, Accor as well as “White Label” Management Agreements with Redefine BDL, Chardon, Sangine, MacDonald Hotels to name but a few.
On the consumer and retail side, she has an in-depth knowledge of the sector and supports our clients with M&A, competition, media and advertising, food law, etc. Her detailed expertise as a corporate partner means Louise also regularly advises clients across a wide range of other sectors including real estate, manufacturing, support services, industrials and IT.
Dr. Malte Bruhns
Partner
Rechtsanwalt | Co-Head of the CMS Corporate/M&A Group
CMS
Malte is a corporate lawyer at CMS and serves as the firm’s Global Co-Head for Corporate M&A. For nearly 20 years he has advised strategic and financial investors on numerous complex and high-value transactions across various business sectors.
Malte joined CMS in 2005 and was elected partner in 2011. He is often recommended by clients and competitors in leading industry publications for his competent, professional and efficient transaction advice.