Rising credit costs, fear of recession, geopolitical risk and tighter regulatory scrutiny combined to depress markets for IPOs and merger and acquisitions in 2023, when M&A lawyers shifted their focus to advising corporate clients on smaller deals and creative funding facilities to compensate for the falloff in funding. Private Equity partner Gemma Roberts said on the difficulty with access to debt, that Private equity spenders "are investing earlier in the life cycle in growth assets and may also look at co-investing alongside other investors ... This can also allow investors the opportunity to get into great assets at a slightly lower valuation Technology and Life Sciences partner Ariel White-Tsimikalis said about the Valuation Gap that "It's a good time for an investor to come into a company, when the stock is undervalued … You take a punt on the company's share price increasing as the markets pick up if you believe in the fundamentals of the business." More in Law360.