| “No company would ever buy another just for tax reasons. Inversions are more an added value component for strategic M&A deals with their own sound rationale. Wait a minute. Are we talking on background and not for attribution? Oh, well in that case. Yes, of course, tax has driven most of the recent surge in M&A” This M&A banker leaves the bank’s PR person head in hands. |
| “The people who should understand what big data is in an investment bank are the people that don’t. The IT crowd might think they’ve been using big data, but I guarantee you they’re about as clued up on this as my 97-year-old grandfather” A technology advisor lets rip against investment banks’ ivory-towered IT staff |
| “Each M&A cycle tests what the regulators will permit. I’d be surprised this time around to see the French authorities block a foreign takeover of Danone based on the national importance of yoghurt” This investment banker hopes he can keep milking the M&A market |
| “Right, do you want me to tell you what I say to the regulators when I go to Washington or do you want me to tell you what I really think?” Euromoney wonders if they are ever the same thing for this senior banker |
| “If rates go back to 4%, all the money in loan funds and short-duration funds will disappear. It is there as a rate hedge. It is not there because investors love loans” One asset manager warns against complacency in the loan market |