M&A Environment in 2012

Emerging giants Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRIC countries) had Business Optimism Outlooks of 25 percent in Q3 2011. Businesses in these emerging markets will look to further invest in their native markets through capital improvements and potential acquisitions or mergers with technology leaders in more developed markets. The fact that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects mature markets to grow at 1.9 percent while emerging markets will grow at a 6.1 percent pace furthers our opinion that 2012 will bring a number of acquisitions or mergers aimed at capitalizing on the opportunities in emerging markets and the technology and intellectual property available in the developed markets.