Foreknowledge, it appears, has blunted the M&A impact of anti-inversion regulations released earlier this month by the U.S. Treasury Department.
"The regulations merely implemented rules that everyone has known were coming for at least a year," says Paul Seraganian in the New York office of Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. "So their effect has been baked into Canadian M&A deal flow for some time now."
In other words, the bad news isn't so bad because it's old bad news, which as stock markets have demonstrated with regularity, can be less galling than new bad news. But given the downturn in our economy, attributable largely to falling oil prices, the fact that bad news is old news doesn't make it good news.
Lexpert contributor Julius Melnitzer reports at lexpert.ca/globe