Michael Franzino, managing partner in the global specialty practice group at Heidrick & Struggles, sees total compensation for many on the Street falling 25% to 30% or more, versus last year, mainly because of the steep declines in IPO volume and merger and acquisition activity.
Locked credit markets have doomed hundreds of deals this year and reduced the global volume of mergers by a third.
Over all, the global volume of mergers and acquisitions rose 7.6 percent last year, to $2.54 trillion, from 2010, according to Thomson Reuters.
In his analysis, he notes that the value and volume of mergers and acquisitions in the fourth quarter of 2006 fell for the first time in 13 quarters.
The United States has led the world so far this year in initial public offerings and in volume of mergers and acquisitions, according to Renaissance Capital and Dealogic.
According to J.P. Morgan, an American bank, the volume of mergers and acquisitions in Europe's combined telecoms, media and technology sector in the second quarter of this year was $194 billion, 24% above the level in the first quarter.
And the volume of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Japan has quadrupled in the past decade.But the value of M&A deals is still only 3% of Japan's GDP, compared with 10% in America and Europe.
That means it is up to the antitrust authorities, Mr Klein argues, to ensure that markets are sufficiently competitive.The huge volume of mergers has been more remarked on.
In a survey of corporate executives this year, Ernst & Young found that 76 percent expected the overall volume of mergers and acquisitions to improve, but only 29 percent expected to do a deal in the next 12 months.
After hitting a recent low in 2009, with $1.98 trillion in deals, the volume of mergers and acquisitions is expected to rise 12.6 percent this year, to $2.23 trillion, and pick up speed in 2011, according to the report.
