Looking Back at M&A in 2025: Behind the Great Rebound

Bain & Company

Article

16 Pages

Bain’s “Looking Back at M&A in 2025” finds that global deal value rebounded sharply—up about 36% to an estimated $4.8 trillion—with tech and AI-related acquisitions leading growth and strategic M&A taking center stage for companies reshaping their businesses. Despite this rebound, M&A still represents a smaller share of corporate capital allocation than other investments like R&D and capex, and executives are increasingly using AI throughout the deal process.

Key Takeaways

Deal Rebound: A broad-based rebound boosted deal value by 36%, led by resurgent tech M&A. Despite the rebound in activity, capital allocation to M&A is at a 10-year low.
Megadeals: Megadeals greater than $5 billion represented more than 75% of incremental deal value as infrequent acquirers came off the sidelines.
Deal Type: Scope deals accounted for 60% of big deals, making it the biggest year on record for deals driven by revenue growth.
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