A CFO article notes that although there will be assets ripe for the picking, many companies will choose to wait out economic uncertainty and resist transformational deals citing are report by Ernst & Young.

U.S. companies aiming to merge, consolidate, or acquire assets or companies next year are in the minority, and that will make for a sluggish M&A market next year, according to the report.

“Macroeconomic ambiguity combined with a continued corporate focus on lower risk, organic growth opportunities, and smaller, strategic deals will define deal-making in 2013,” according to E&Y’s 2013 M&A Outlook report, released Wednesday.

Echoing other players in the M&A market, E&Y is forecasting zero growth in deal activity for 2013; volumes will be flat compared with 2012 and remain near a ten-year low.

This year the number of M&A deals in the United States slumped 10% as of November 26, and total deal value dropped 26%, to $625.7 billion, according to E&Y stats obtained from Thomson Financial. And 2013 will be another year of aversion to large, market-changing moves among managements and boards of directors.