Hennion & Walsh Trending

In a positive economic development, Mergers & Acquisitions (“M&A”), as many analysts have predicted, have already started to heat-up in early 2010. In fact, BersteinReseach has forecasted at 35% increase in M&A activity in 2010. Some of the more noteworthy M&A deals that have been announced thus far in 2010 have included:

1. MetLife Inc.’s deal to buy AIG’s American Life Insurance Co. (Alico)
2. Prudential’s purchase of AIG’s Asian Life Insurance Unit, AIA Group
3. MSCI’s acquisition of RiskMetrics
4. Schlumberger’s merger with Smith International
5. Coca-Cola’s purchase of Coca-Cola Enterprises
6. Kraft’s acquisition of Cadbury
7. The Novartis acquisition of Alcon
8. Merck KGaA’s acquisition of Millipore

The world of M&A is starting to hit a frenzied pace. Such an environment, in our opinion at Hennion & Walsh, increases the value of certain active portfolio managers who look to take advantage of such activities in the various asset classes and/or sectors that they cover. As a result, individual investors should be wary of attempting to navigate this fast paced environment on their own as individual investors tend to rely too much on rumors and speculation in the field of M&A and, as a result, are often disappointed with their results.