Big-ticket deals drive M&A as market braces for volatile start to 2026

• Global M&A deal activity increased for the second consecutive year with 726 transactions completed in the last 12 months.
• Based on share price performance, M&A deals in 2025 significantly improved compared to the previous year, as buyers keep pace with strong global equity markets.
• However, a sharp decline in deal performance in the final quarter of 2025 cautions unpredictable swings in M&A activity for the year ahead.

LONDON, January 8, 2026 — Global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) registered increased activity for the second consecutive year with 726 deals completed in the last 12 months, according to research from WTW’s Quarterly Deal Performance Monitor (QDPM). A 2% rise in volume for completed deals valued over $100 million, compared to 710 transactions in 2024^[1], signals a return to pre-pandemic levels.

Run in partnership with the M&A Research Centre at Bayes Business School, the data reveals the aggregate performance gap between buyers and companies pursuing organic growth significantly narrowed in 2025. M&A transactions only marginally underperformed companies not involved in deals by -0.5pp (percentage points). This is a marked improvement compared to the previous year when acquirers underperformed by -10.9pp. In addition, 32% of companies completing deals successfully outpaced the wider market, despite the challenge of competing with stock markets surging to record highs.

Global M&A deals – Annual performance

In 2025, the value of completed deals rose to $933 billion (an 11% increase from 2024). The continued uptick in large transactions (valued over US$1 billion) dominated M&A activity, rising by 14% during the last 12 months at 201 completed deals compared to 177 in 2024. The average global size of large M&A deals also hit a new high of $2.9 billion in the second half of 2025, a 23% year-on-year increase.

Jana Mercereau, Head of Europe M&A Consulting, said: “Big-ticket deals are driving the market, but they also bring high risk and make it difficult to preserve and amplify value. Major investments grounded in sound strategy have the potential to reshape a business and establish a path for sustained growth. On the other hand, deals that lack a well-defined, strategic objective can become a recipe for value destruction.”

All regional acquirers except Europe underperformed their respective regional index for 2025. European dealmakers outperformed their index by +4.7pp, compared to +0.7pp in 2024, with 153 deals completed in 2025, on a par with the 155 deals closed the previous year. Reflecting the wider European trend, British acquirers also outperformed the index by +9.0pp across the 33 deals completed in 2025.

Asia-Pacific buyers were -2.1pp below their regional index with 199 deals completed in 2025, a year-on-year deal volume increase of 22%. Chinese buyers rebounded with 64 deals in 2025, up from a record low of 31 the previous year. North American acquirers underperformed by -1.5pp with 348 deals in 2025, compared to -8.7pp and 361 deals in 2024.

The uptick in M&A activity during 2025, including a dramatically improved performance of +11pp in Q3, was tempered by a sharp reversal by dealmakers in the final three months that saw a record quarterly negative performance of -13.9pp below the MSCI World Index.

Mercereau said: “Deal activity and overall optimism grew in 2025, fuelled by robust equity markets, relative economic stability, rate reductions and a push to adopt AI. In the coming year, targeted scale will remain key as the market continues to reward larger companies with the capacity to weather sharp and unpredictable swings in M&A activity that have become the “new normal" for dealmakers, buffeted by persistent geopolitical turbulence.

WTW QDPM Methodology

• All analysis is conducted from the perspective of the acquirer.
• Share-price performance within the quarterly study is measured as a percentage change in share price from six months prior to the announcement date to the end of the quarter.
• All deals where the acquirer owned less than 50% of the shares of the target after the acquisition were removed, hence no minority purchases have been considered. All deals where the acquirer held more than 50% of target shares prior to the acquisition have been removed, hence no remaining purchases have been considered.
• Only completed M&A deals with a value of at least $100 million which meet the study criteria are included in this research.
• Deal data sourced from Refinitiv.

About WTW M&A

WTW’s M&A practice combines our expertise in risk and human capital to offer a full range of M&A services and solutions covering all stages of the M&A process. We have particular expertise in the areas of planning, due diligence, risk transfer and post transaction integration, areas that define the success of any transaction.

About WTW

At WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), we provide data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Leveraging the global view and local expertise of our colleagues serving 140 countries and markets, we help organisations sharpen their strategy, enhance organisational resilience, motivate their workforce and maximise performance.

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Footnote

1. The M&A research tracks the number of completed deals over $100m and the share price performance of the acquiring company against the MSCI World Index, which is used as default, unless stated otherwise. Return to article undo