M&A Report: Deal-Making at Lowest Level in Eight Years

With the credit markets frozen, deal-making slowed to its lowest level in at least eight years, with more deals falling through than getting done. A scant $2 billion worth of reported transactions took place in 2008, down from $9.6 billion in 2007, according to investment bank DeSilva + Phillips’ 2009 M&A report.
 
That figure was eclipsed by the dollar volume of would-be sales that didn’t go through, including those of Reed Business Information (valued at $1 billion) and Informa (valued at $6.7