Giles Dunning: Adviser M&A market needs to agree on a valuation method

Many deals in the M&A space are now on hold and the pipeline of new acquisitions has markedly slowed. There are some encouraging signs of life though and the ingredients for M&A in financial services have not disappeared. Although the process of acquiring and selling businesses is likely to take longer in current conditions, the same pre-crisis motivators for smaller firms to sell do remain.  For years, increasing regulatory burden has been an ever-bigger issue for those running their own firms, and, for many, the burden weighs even heavier post-pandemic. Similarly, in many cases, ris...