WASHING TON: US companies have their sights on M&A opportunities as they seek to deploy anticipated tax savings from US Tax Reforms, according to the EY Tax Reform Dollar Deployment Survey.
As companies combat digital disruption and seek innovation through a variety of avenues, 47 per cent said they will increase research & development (R&D) spend and 42 per cent are planning to use those savings to pursue M&A.
In addition, the survey found that almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of executives are likely to accelerate corporate M&A strategies for the year ahead. Of those respondents, 94 per cent plan to pursue transactions under $1 billion.US and overseas companies with US operations are almost universally signaling a drop in their effective tax rates as a result of US tax reform. These significant tax savings will be joined by previously ‘trapped’ overseas cash that many US businesses are now repatriating to home soil, due to wide-ranging multinational tax reform –all leading to increased liquidity in the market.