Thirty-Six Percent

The percentage of company officers and outside advisers who believe that the American mergers and acquisitions market will be strong in 2008, according to Dykema Gossett’s third annual M&A forecast survey, released late last year. That number represents a steady decline from previous years—in 2006, 63 percent of respondents held a positive view of the overall market, and in 2005 confidence was soaring at 82 percent. Respondents who added their comments to the survey cited various reasons for their downbeat viewpoint, including a weak dollar, a low-growth economy, and a lack of affordable funding and credit.