PRESS RELEASE
24 November 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Record number of delegates meet to discuss M&A and generate deal opportunities

Alberto Alesina, Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University, comments on future prospects during the 8th M&A Mid-Market Forum held in Milan.

The 8th M&A International Inc. Mid-Market Forum, held in Milan, Italy on 21 November, was attended by over 350 senior industrialists, M&A advisors and bankers.

Professor Alberto Alesina opened the Forum by sharing his views on the current global financial crisis. He noted that the crisis has generated a large anti-market reaction and even a more anti-liberism retort, with talk of the end of capitalism, the death of the financial system, the return to state intervention, the end of globalization and state supremacy over the market.

However, noting that the past 20 years have seen a level of economic stability and growth never previously experienced, Professor Alesina expressed optimism that the combined efforts being made by both developed and developing economies would see a relatively quick return to stability and growth.

Following Professor Alesina’s presentation, a panel of experts from Thomson Reuters, UniCredit, the Hay Group, and Arietti & Associati considered potential measures which could be taken to promote growth and allow confidence to return to the markets. The audience of over 350 industrialists, advisors and senior bankers also expressed their views on these measures via the live voting system. The key conclusions were:

1. Taxation policy has limited ability to immediately resolve the current crisis
2. The Private Equity industry will not be shut down by the credit crunch
3. Corporates will continue to prefer acquisitions over organic expansion to achieve growth
4. Many of the recent, hastily put-together acquisitions will have significant problems regarding integration
5. M&A opportunities will be greatest in China, and Central and Eastern Europe

The record number of attendees at the 8th Mid-Market Forum clearly indicates that despite the current market situation, the appetite for doing deals remains high.  The event focuses on generating M&A deal activity, and is based on a “speed-dating format”.  In total over 1,300 one-to-one meetings were held during the Forum.

Alberto Alesina Professor of Political Economy – Harvard University
Alberto Alesina, born in Italy in 1957, is the Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University. He served as Chairman of the Department of Economics from 2003–2006. He obtained his PhD from Harvard in 1986. He is also a member of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Center for Economic Policy Research. He is a leader in the field of Political Economics and has published extensively in all major academic journals in economics. He has published five books and edited many more. His two most recent books are The Future of Europe: Reform or Decline and Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe: A World of Difference, published by Oxford University Press. He has been a Co-editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics for eight years and Associate Editor of many academic journals. He has published columns in many leading newspapers around the world and has visited several institutions including MIT, Tel Aviv University, University of Stockholm, The World Bank and the IMF.

About M&A International Inc.
M&A International Inc., established in 1985, offers the unparalleled resources of 41 M&A advisory and investment banking firms operating in 38 countries. The members are closely linked in a global alliance to advise clients on acquisitions, divestitures, funding and joint ventures.

Focused on the middle market, M&A International Inc. members closed 380 deals in 2007 worth more than $21 billion. For further information, please visit www.mergers.net

For further information, please contact:

M&A International Inc.

Christopher Scales
+34 678 54 93 30

Melanie Berthelot-Verhaeghe
+34 646 74 02 59