Friedemann Thomma was quoted on January 23, 2018, in an article about future predictions on international mergers and acquisitions as a result of the new tax reform legislation.
Commenting on repatriation, Thomma said that the repatriation pipeline by itself isn't likely to fuel M&A. A number of limitations could come into play, including foreign corporate, accounting, or tax laws that could limit the amount of cash available for repatriation regardless of the amount includable in U.S. taxable income. He continued by saying, "that the deemed repatriation tax is imposed on illiquid assets as well as liquid ones, and as such, some cash should be reserved to pay the tax on the illiquid assets, though the election to pay the U.S. tax over eight years may mitigate this."
He also mentioned that companies don't do acquisitions just because they have cash available, they do acquisitions because they need to find an appropriate target.
Thomma added, "Cash has not been a problem before the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and is not a problem now. Finding the right target is a much bigger obstacle than liquidity."