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Russian (RU) Fareed Sahloul
Fri, Apr 4, 2025, 10:29 AM 3 min read
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(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump’s trade war has hit billions of dollars worth of potential mergers, acquisitions and initial public offerings in less than 24 hours.
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Ticket platform StubHub Holdings Inc., digital payments company Klarna Bank AB, adtech group MNTN Inc. and insurer Ategrity Specialty Holdings have all pressed pause on planned listings, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. Their decisions come as markets extend deep losses in the wake of Trump’s move on Wednesday to impose the steepest American tariffs in a century.
A senior executive working in the IPO industry said they expected all listings to be delayed for at least the next two weeks. The person didn’t expect any companies to launch investor roadshows amid the market volatility.
Fintech company Chime is pushing back filing its financials with regulators, also delaying its IPO, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The global stock rout is also affecting M&A markets. Bloomberg News reported Friday that French building materials producer Cie. de Saint-Gobain has decided to hold off on a sale of its auto glass unit, which could have fetched as much as €2.5 billion ($2.8 billion). Elsewhere amid the turmoil, private equity firm KKR & Co. has walked away from a consortium discussing a takeover of Gerresheimer AG, the German maker of packaging for drugs and cosmetics that has a market capitalization of about €2 billion.
Other agreed transactions could also be under threat. In the leveraged finance markets, debt being sold to back deals such as HIG Capital’s purchase of Canadian firm Converge Technology Solutions Corp. and ABC Technologies Holdings Inc.’s acquisition of TI Fluid Systems Plc have been delayed, Bloomberg News has reported.
Trump’s tariffs have sparked early retaliation, with China announcing commensurate levies on all American goods and export controls on rare earths. The European Union, the US’s largest trading partner, has also vowed action. The S&P 500 fell as much as 5.5% on Friday.
The fallout is a fresh blow to dealmakers, who’d been hoping for a banner year under Trump 2.0 only to find themselves disappointed by the uncertainty created by the president’s sweeping policy changes. Global M&A activity was sluggish throughout the first quarter and equity bankers were starting to worry that highly-anticipated initial public offerings could end up getting jammed.
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