M&A experts are generally optimistic about the outlook for Latin American M&As this year.

BY JOACHIM BAMRUD

After a decline in M&As in Brazil last year, some experts see a comeback this year, in line with a faster pace on economic activity. Announced M&As fell by 11.9 percent to $71 billion last year, according to Thomson Reuters. Of that M&As involving Brazilian companies as targets accounted for $57.1 billion, a 21.5 percent decline.

“I expect there to be an increase in deals as compared to 2011,” says Antonio del Pino, Co-chair of the Latin America Practice at Latham & Watkins. “I’m cautiously optimistic about the M&A outlook in Brazil for this year. There has been some “ticker shock” in Brazil as sellers expectations on price have continued to increase. This has made it more challenging to get deals done but interest in domestic and cross-border M&A continues to be strong.”

However, Michael McGuinness, who leads the Latin American M&A practice at Shearman & Sterling, ....

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Keywords: Banking, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, energy, Mexico, natural resources, oil & gas