It was a year marked more by failure than success. Growing differences in what buyers and sellers thought assets were worth, spurred on by a higher cost of capital, coupled with economic and geopolitical uncertainty, made the past 12 months a tough environment for dealmaking.

With plenty of transactions on hiatus, it was a year focused more on portfolio management. EBOS’ mooted $3.75 billion purchase of TPG Capital’s Greencross vets and pets business is just one example of a stellar deal that would have ordinarily had little trouble completing. And we know of some two dozen (less stellar) transactions privately under discussion that haven’t made it far.