While many of the lawyers may be ready to toast an upswing in deals, one prominent mergers' banker thinks it is too early to expect a boom, the New York Times reported yesterday. Mark Shafir, co-head of global mergers and acquisitions at Citigroup, said that professionals in the business of mergers and acquisitions are still trying to find their footing after the financial crisis. Many of the factors that should lead to an enormous recovery in deals are in place, he said, but there are enough potential problems that the market is lagging behind where it should be. Western Europe continues to be an extreme laggard, leaving a hole in the market that has yet to be filled. By one measure, the deal environment has not markedly improved from last year, according to Shafir. The number of deals this year whose value surpassed $1 billion disclosed is 95, just one more than in the period a year earlier. That is even after the announced sales of Dell, H.J. Heinz and Virgin Media.
