The Federal Reserve’s decision to begin tapering its bond buying program is likely to put a dent in M&A activity in 2014 because it will likely lead to higher interest rates, making deal financing more expensive, according to a panel of experts. With deal pricing at the highest level in years, megadeals worth over $10 billion may not be as common in 2014 as they were in the previous year.

The outlook for the deal environment was the subject of Dealmaker’s Dish, a roundtable discussion at The Deal Economy 2014, a conference held at the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 5, 2013, and presented by The Deal and law firm Pepper Hamilton.