Insights: Clients

Mergers & Acquisitions

MasterBrand/American Woodmark

The transaction’s initial 30-day HSR waiting period is scheduled to expire on October 6. We continue to expect MasterBrand/American Woodmark will receive a second request from the DOJ. New feedback from industry participants (who are not involved in the deal) suggests the deal eliminates one of two commodity-grade or “stock” cabinet manufacturers...

Open Banking/Dodd-Frank Sec. 1033

The CFPB has started a new process for issuing a rule that dictates how banks are required to share customer data with fintechs (open banking), which is required under Sec. 1033 of Dodd-Frank. The Biden CFPB issued an open banking rule last October and was sued by banking industry stakeholders. In May, the Trump CFPB indicated that it intended...

Deposit Insurance, Reciprocal/Custodial Deposits

Bipartisan consideration of raising the current $250k FDIC deposit insurance limit has intensified, as has policy surrounding reciprocal/custodial deposits. The Senate Banking Committee (SBC) held a hearing on deposit insurance, while Sens. Hagerty (R-TN) and Alsobrooks (D-MD) introduced legislation that would increase the limit to $20m for...

FY26 Funding/Government Shutdown, ACA

Funding for discretionary programs (i.e., loans, grants, military, other government operations - not mandatory/entitlement programs) ceases on 9/30, and if a new “appropriations” bill to fund these programs is not enacted by then, they will shut down. The House today passed a “continuing resolution (CR)” on a partisan Republican basis to sustain...

Mergers & Acquisitions

Paramount Sydance/Warner Discovery

Upcoming/recent developments… The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Paramount Skydance (Paramount) is preparing a majority cash bid for Warner Brothers Discovery (Warner). The bid is apparently for the entire company. Our outlook… We believe Paramount/Warner would ultimately be cleared by federal regulators. As we are observing...

Tech / Media / Telecom

International Digital Taxes/Regulation

President Trump continues to signal his alignment with large U.S. tech firms, most recently reflected in his hosting of industry leaders (e.g., Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, others) at the White House. Meanwhile, his allies in Congress are highlighting censorship of U.S. citizens abroad and foreign discrimination against...