A good year for deals?

Many might be predicting gloom and doom on the deal front. We will not likely hit another record and the number of mega-deals has now where to head but south. Most of this is driven by the belief that the marquee private equity funds will remain stalled by the CLO crunch. But remember the biggest deal in history was the RBS-led deal to buy ABN for $101 billion. That's massive and it is being executed without any private equity money. So you have to think that non-sponsor investment bankers are salivating; 2008 might be the year of the strategic deal. Smaller deal-makers are also sensing more deals, which just might draw competition from the big boys. When all is said and done, the deal count may dip but there will be plenty of dealmaking.