Q1 M&A Outlook 2025: Onwards and upwards

Denise Kim is a Senior Director of Corporate Development at Synopsys, specializing in deal strategy, valuation, negotiation, due diligence, and carve-outs. With extensive experience in domestic and cross-border M&A and divestitures, Denise has played a key role in executing strategic transactions for leading Silicon Valley technology companies. During 2024, she led the divestiture of the Software Integrity Business at Synopsys, demonstrating her expertise in complex deal execution and value creation.

As Director of Corporate Development at Veeva Systems, Nicole draws on over a decade of experience in healthcare strategy and finance to help lead M&A, equity investment, and strategic planning efforts for the company. Prior to joining Veeva, Nicole worked as a healthcare investment banker at Morgan Stanley and revenue cycle management consultant at Cloudmed (now part of R1). She holds an MBA from Duke and a BA in Economics from UCLA, and currently lives in Phoenix with her husband and daughter.

Salil is involved in the origination and execution of corporate transactions for Sun Life globally, including traditional mergers & acquisitions, equity investments, partnerships and joint ventures. Prior to joining Sun Life, Salil worked in various roles across corporate development, corporate strategy and investment banking at Scotiabank, RBC Global Asset Management, and RBC Capital Markets. Salil received an M.B.A from The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business and a B. Eng. in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University. He is a CFA Charter holder and also holds the designation of CBV.

Dan Scorpio is Head of M&A and Activism at H/Advisors Abernathy. He provides strategic communications and stakeholder engagement counsel to leadership teams and Boards of Directors regarding transactions, activism defense and governance matters.

He is skilled in connecting communications strategies to business objectives and brings a highly effective cross-stakeholder approach to client engagements. Dan has significant media relations experience and is a leader in applying digital strategies to drive positive outcomes for clients in contested M&A, proxy contests and special situations.

Dan’s recent M&A advisory work includes T-Mobile’s acquisitions of Sprint and Mint Mobile, IFF’s RMT with DuPont’s Nutrition & Biosciences business, Symbotic’s public listing via a SPAC backed by SoftBank, Keurig Green Mountain’s acquisition of Dr Pepper Snapple and Tempus AI’s initial public offering. He has advised corporate clients in private and public engagements against activist investors including Carl Icahn, Elliott Management, Trian Partners, JANA, Mantle Ridge, Pershing Square, Sachem Head and Starboard Value, among others.