WEBVTT

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Welcome to the new era of supersized M&A.

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Global deal value is on track
to reach about $4 trillion in 2026,

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the strongest year since 2021.

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But volumes are falling and megadeals 
are doing the heavy lifting.

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Transactions above $5 billion now

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account for nearly half of all total deal value.

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This is roughly double
the share from only two years ago.

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That is intensifying
the K-shaped M&A market. At the top,

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well-capitalised buyers are pursuing scale,
resilience and transformation.

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Below that, many mid-market
dealmakers are still constrained

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by uncertainty,
financing pressure and valuation gaps.

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And AI is a big part of the story.

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Capital is flowing into frontier models,
data centres, power

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and digital infrastructure at a pace
traditional M&A doesn't alone capture.

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AI is not just changing
where capital goes.

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It's beginning to change how deals
get done.

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The deal of the future will look
very different and it's not far away.

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Dealmakers are already using AI tools
to speed up transactions,

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improve transparency and analyse
far more data with less friction.

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More dealmakers are becoming comfortable
using AI in the M&A process,

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but many are not yet ready for a process
anchored

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around AI rather than human judgement.

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That does not mean humans step aside.

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It means human judgement
focuses on the decisions that matter most.

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Wherever this lands, one thing is clear.
For dealmakers, it's a whole new world.