Summary
- Many industry players operating in the Lower 48 have a large amount of cash on their balance sheets in 2019 due to accommodative tax policy and cheap debt
- Longer-term strategic capital deployment will help firms lay a foundation for continued business growth, hedging against weakening macroeconomic fundamentals
- These economic conditions are expected to drive more funds towards M&A activity
- However, to capture M&A value by realizing merger synergies, operators should evaluate whether they have the right data insights on enterprise spend, costs, and market trends to build a savings roadmap