Getting to the Finish Line: Deal Prep in a Shifting M&A Landscape
Presented By: CohnReznick / Greenberg Traurig
Today’s M&A environment is anything but predictable—market volatility, interest rate pressure, regulatory scrutiny, and shifting buyer priorities have all added new layers of complexity to getting deals done. This session tackles what effective deal prep looks like in uncertain times, from financial readiness and due diligence to story positioning and stakeholder alignment. Learn how top dealmakers are adapting their processes, recalibrating expectations, and preparing companies to transact in today’s evolving landscape.
Moderator:
Shareholder
Greenberg Traurig
Adam Namoury advises private and public companies, private equity sponsors and special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), on corporate transactions ranging in value from $2M to $5B+, including mergers, acquisitions (including cross-border M&A), business combinations, takeovers, leveraged buyouts, divestitures, carveouts, joint ventures, stock/asset purchases and sales, restructurings, recapitalizations, strategic alliances, minority investments, equity financings, debt financings, corporate finance transactions and project finance transactions. Adam acts as a strategic advisor to his clients regarding both legal and business issues and serves as outside general counsel to several corporate clients and regularly advises companies, private equity sponsors, boards of directors, and senior executives on general corporate governance matters, fiduciary duty issues, and the formation and structuring of various business entities.
Panelists:
Director
Cartesian Capital Group
Director at Cartesian Capital Group, a global private equity firm. Martin currently serves on the board of directors of Aloo Telecom and Flybondi. Prior to joining Cartesian, Martin was a Senior Portfolio Manager at First Private Investment Management in Frankfurt, Germany, where he managed two long/short equity hedge funds.
Partner
CohnReznick
Vikram leads a dynamic team specializing in transaction advisory services, guiding clients through buy-side and sell-side due diligence processes. With a keen eye for identifying opportunities and navigating challenges, Vikram helps his clients achieve optimal outcomes, safeguarding and enhancing stakeholder value throughout their business lifecycle.
Managing Director
Stellex Capital Management
Michael Livanos is a Managing Director and founding member of Stellex Capital Management. Stellex is a private equity firm that invests in middle-market companies in North America and Europe through its offices in New York, Pittsburgh, Detroit and London. We seek to identify opportunities where we can deploy capital to provide stability, catalyze operational improvement and foster growth. We work closely with high quality management teams to unlock and enhance the value of the underlying franchise.
Mr. Livanos currently serves the boards of the A. Stucki Company, Custom Glass Solutions, Fenix Parts, FerroWorks and is a board observer of AF Global. He previously served on the boards of Continental Global Material Handling and Dominion Hospitality. Prior to Stellex, Mr. Livanos held various roles at Barclays, Houlihan Lokey and Citigroup.
Mr. Livanos received his BS in Computer Science and Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University and his MBA from Columbia Business School. He has served on the advisory board of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science and as a lecturer and advisor to Columbia Business School's Private Equity Program.
Director - Corporate Development
Itochu International Inc.
Raj Sharma is a corporate development professional with experience in acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and minority investments with Fortune 500 organizations. Currently, working as Director of Corporate & Strategic Development with a Fortune Global 100 Japanese corporation, Raj supports strategic growth initiatives across different industry verticals of the organization with focus on end-to-end M&A execution including deal sourcing, structuring, negotiation, and synergy value creation. Previously, Raj has been responsible for executing high-impact deals and driving growth strategies through M&A and partnerships for large organizations such as Cummins Inc. and Gartner Inc.