Dealmakers Head to New Orleans to Look Beyond ‘Havoc’ in M&A

Dealmakers gathered at an annual conference in New Orleans this week to catch their breath and try to look for reasons to be optimistic about a mergers and acquisitions market that has disappointed so far in 2025.

“People want to do deals,” Audra Cohen, co-managing partner at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell’s general practice group, said during a presentation Thursday at Tulane University’s Corporate Law Institute event. She was speaking against a backdrop of falling deal values, with activity in part impacted by US President’s Donald Trump’s policies on the economy and foreign affairs.