The foundation of a mergers and acquisitions resurgence is just starting to take hold and will eventually gain momenteum, Robert Spatt, partner at Simpson Thacher & Barlett told CNBC Thursday.
"We are at a simmer not a boil ... we've seen these cycles before and it starts to build and it's starting to build now," Spatt said.
"Generally the people who do the deals earliest generally do the best deals," he added.
In terms of hostile deals, 2011 has already seen a number of big pending deals: Trian Fund Management targeting Family Dollar, valued at $6.5 billion, Valeant targeting Cephalon, valued at $5.7 billion and National Bank Greece targeting Alpha Bank AE, valued at $3.9 billion.
As a result we will see even more hostiles this year, Spatt said. "For the larger companies that have a larger profile, I think the activists are going to go after the staggered boards with more vigor than they have in the past."
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