It's February 2, 2026 and the M&A Market is Booming

Pitchbook's Global M&A Report shows that merger and acquisition activity reached record levels in 2025. The report indicates that deal count and dollar value both set new highs and surpassed 2021 as the most active year in global M&A history. Momentum from the year is carrying into 2026. More than 50,000 transactions occurred in 2025. This represents a 12 percent increase from the prior year. The total value reached almost 5 trillion dollars, up 37 percent year over year. Average EBITDA multiples climbed to 10.1 times in 2025 from 8.8 times in 2022. Enterprise value to revenue multiples rose to 1.7 times from 1.5 times in 2023. The fourth quarter of 2025 marked the strongest quarter in M&A history. There were 617 deals exceeding 1 billion dollars in 2025. This figure is up 62 percent from the previous year. Such mega deals made up 1.5 percent of the total number but accounted for 57 percent of the overall dollar value. Factors supporting the environment include higher equity values, modestly lower borrowing costs, increased investor confidence and a favorable regulatory environment.