NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Large mergers of publicly traded companies are unlikely to happen in 2022 due to a tightening by the Biden Administration, which makes securing regulatory approval for combination agreements more difficult. Senior dealmakers spoke at the Reuters Next conference.

Companies are attempting to rebuild their businesses after the economic crisis by leveraging cheap debt and high stock prices in order to make acquisitions.

However, panelists addressing “The Great M&A Game” warned the ferocious appetite was being stymied by a concerted push by U.S. regulatory agencies, who were using any means necessary to slow down and kill transactions.

“There just aren’t going to be any big deals in the foreseeable future,” said Robert Kindler, vice chairman and global head of M&A at Morgan Stanley (NYSE:), noting that each deal is “under very strict scrutiny” and that people will not make deals if they have concerns on the regulatory side.

Scott Barshay of Paul Weiss, the corporate department chair, stated that one of regulators’ tactics is extensive requests to information and administrative roadblocks.

The Federal Trade Commission’s October announcement that it would be reapplying its practice of making companies ask for their approval for every deal for the next ten years, in exchange to waive through an existing transaction, was also mentioned.

Biden’s administration expressed concerns that dealmaking is causing a loss of energy in key sectors, and reducing consumer choice. Phase II of a study on possible reforms in competition law is ongoing.

Kindler predicted that there would be a chilling effect and less than ten transactions worth over $10 billion between public companies in 2022.

Barshay stated that private equity firms will likely be exempted from the scrutiny of a deal involving 2 listed entities. This would allow buyout companies to keep making large acquisitions.