New York M&A partner John Madden was quoted in a Feb. 9 National Law Journal story, titled “Forced Combinations Prop Up the Market,” that examined 2008 M&A trends. Madden spoke about M&A activity involving financial institutions, as well as sovereign wealth fund activity in 2008 and, looking ahead, in 2009. Looking forward more broadly at M&A activity in 2009, Madden said, “In order for companies to have the confidence to move forward with an active M&A program, one needs to achieve some level of stability and equilibrium in the equity markets and some return to normalcy in the credit markets.”