Merger volume is down, but not dead. And those who aren't afraid to adjust to the new reality will be the winners. In TheDeal.com, a Jones Day partner argues that some private equity firms aren't sitting around waiting for the heavy leverage halcyon days to return. Instead, they are embracing a new model. Lots of money is still being raised and it is being put to work in different ways, going to "where North America has enormous capital needs--sectors like infrastructure and alternative energy that require huge amounts of equity." This is riskier in a sense, smacking of venture capital. Of course, you have to wonder if there are enough of these kinds of deals to go around. I doubt it. But it does reflect some new thinking that's out there in deal land. Jones Day expects activity by volume of deal transactions to outpace expectations. "We have so much in the pipeline right now that we expect the back half of 2008 to be more active than the first half of last year."  

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