The Getting the Deal Done Breakfast Conference October 27, 2011 (sponsors listed below) was a roaring success with very positive feedback. Our special guest speaker was Christian Schiller with Cascadia Capital, the largest investment-banking firm in Washington. Christian’s comments were insightful and one comment in particular resonated with me.
Christian stated that 2012 should be a good year for middle market M&A and one of the major reasons is the uncertainty of what will happen with the election with tax law changes and other regulatory changes. He felt, however, that a good 2012 would be at the expense of the two to three following years as people accelerate their (M&A) activity to avoid the uncertainty.
Two weeks prior, one of my “Partner” On-Call Network associates, Jeff Smith in Indianapolis, called me to discuss an acquisition that a client of his is involved with. His client is concerned about budgeting for increasing health care costs and Obamacare. This is the kind of regulatory uncertainty Christian mentioned and that small business owners face. Will costs increase even more dramatically than they have? Will there be fines if businesses don’t contribute enough for employees medical insurance?
The October 29, 2011 Wall Street Journal had two interesting pieces related to this. First, one of their editorials discussed that the favorable view of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is dropping, sharply. The numbers now suggest that it is not just partisans against this regulation; there must be independents and Democrats also concerned about the burden this puts on employers (48% of Democrats are now not in favor).
In her weekly column, Peggy Noonan wrote, “…they [Occupy Wall Street protestors] seem as incapable of seeing government as part of the problem as Republicans seem of seeing business as part of the problem.” In other words, those of us reading this, at my event and just “doing business” every day are caught in the middle of disagreements between partisans (most of whom are simply looking to be reelected) and we simply want to know what the playing field will be before we make investments and take action.
Getting the Deal Done sponsors:
Greg Russell, Peterson Russell Kelly law firm
Marc Hutchinson, Bashey, Hutchinson & Walter CPA firm
Bill Barclay and Kit Gerwels, Columbia Bank
John Martinka, “Partner” On-Call Network
“It seems to me that the laws of the land are now so poorly written that almost no one knows what they mean. That is a government bureaucrat’s delight!” R. Emmett Tyree
