Cheap oil, more deals

As oil prices fall, M&A bankers see dollar signs. Conservative energy companies that held off from purchasing assets during the oil boom may be loosening their purse strings. That could fuel another wave of mergers in the oil patch. Majors like ExxonMobil have long made clear they believed energy prices would fall from their recent record highs. Since energy companies are valued on future expectations of oil and natural gas prices, the implication of this forecast was that many potential acquis...