Investor types

Industrial and strategic acquirers

Q: How large was global M&A in 2025?

Dealogic reported US$4.81 trillion, up 41%.1 LSEG data reported by PYMNTS gave US$4.5 trillion.2

Industrial and strategic acquirers are operating companies that buy businesses to gain scale, capability or market access, paying with cash, debt or shares. This page sets out the size of corporate M&A, how strategic buyers differ from financial sponsors and what changed in 2025 and 2026.

What a strategic acquirer is

A strategic acquirer is an operating company that buys another business because it fits its own operations: to add scale, enter a market, acquire a technology or reduce costs by combining functions. It pays from its balance sheet, with borrowed money or with its own shares, and it intends to own and integrate the business indefinitely.

That is the main difference from financial sponsors such as private equity firms, which buy through funds with a fixed life and plan an exit from the outset. Strategic acquirers do not manage third-party capital. They also differ from corporate venture capital, where the same companies take minority stakes rather than control, and from infrastructure investors, which buy long-life assets for income.

Scale of strategic M&A

Published totals for global M&A in 2025 differ by data provider. Dealogic reported that global M&A rose 41% year on year to US$4.81 trillion in 2025.¹ LSEG data reported by PYMNTS on 26 December 2025 put the 2025 total at US$4.5 trillion, up nearly 50%.² Bain & Company, writing on 11 December 2025, projected US$4.8 trillion for the year, up 36%, and reported that deal value for strategic transactions rose 38%.³

Large deals drove the total. A record 70 megadeals, each valued at more than US$10 billion, contributed US$1.53 trillion in 2025, and a further 367 transactions of US$2 billion to US$10 billion added US$1.46 trillion.¹

By region, Dealogic data reported by Global Finance show US targets taking 63% of global deal value in the first half of 2026, up from 54% a year earlier.⁴ European and Swiss industrial and pharmaceutical groups are also among the largest trade buyers; three are listed in the examples table below.

Types of strategic acquirer

Strategic acquirers fall into several broad groups. Listed corporations can pay in shares as well as cash and are subject to shareholder and market disclosure rules. Diversified industrial groups buy through separate divisions, each with its own acquisition programme. Consolidators buy repeatedly in a single fragmented sector. Private and family-owned groups buy with retained earnings and bank debt and often hold businesses for generations. State-owned companies and national champions buy in sectors such as energy, transport and utilities. Private equity-backed platform companies make add-on acquisitions; they act as strategic buyers on each deal, although their owner is a financial sponsor with its own exit plan.

Source of capital and holding horizon

A strategic buyer finances acquisitions from cash flow and retained earnings, from bank facilities and bonds or by issuing shares, and has no fund life to observe. It does not need to sell the business later, although groups sell divisions that become non-core through carve-outs and spin-offs. Strategic buyers are also important exit routes for financial sponsors: in Europe, trade sale accounted for 22% of private equity exits in 2025, according to Invest Europe.⁵

How strategic acquirers buy

Strategic acquirers buy through negotiated transactions, through auctions run by a seller's adviser and, for listed targets, through public offers. Most seek full ownership, so that the business can be integrated; where risks or costs are large they may instead form joint ventures, and they also buy divisions carved out of other groups. Listed acquirers can offer their own shares as consideration, which can allow selling shareholders to defer tax on the gain.

Technology was the most active sector in 2025. Bain reported that technology M&A deal value rose more than 76% to US$478 billion in 2025 to the date of its report.³ Sales by private equity owners to corporate buyers regained importance in 2025.⁶ For a seller, this means that an auction for a sponsor-owned company commonly includes both strategic and financial bidders.

Typical deal sizes

Strategic acquirers buy at every size, from small bolt-on businesses bought by mid-sized companies to the largest public companies. Large transactions take a growing share of value. According to PwC and LSEG projections reported by Global Finance on 29 June 2026, megadeals above US$5 billion were expected to account for about 48% of global deal value in 2026, against 39% in 2025.⁴

How decisions are made and how long they take

Acquisitions are usually originated by a corporate development team working with the head of the business unit that would own the target. Proposals pass through staged reviews by the executive committee and require final approval by the board, and for large deals by shareholders. Due diligence draws on the buyer's own finance, legal, technical, IT and environmental specialists as well as external accountants and lawyers, and planning for integration starts before signing. Internal reviews and merger clearances make corporate timetables longer than those of financial buyers on comparable deals. Merger control and foreign investment reviews, described below, add time between signing and completion on deals that meet the filing thresholds.

What strategic acquirers look for and why they decline

Strategic buyers look for synergies, access to technology, entry to new markets or channels and an acquisition that will add to earnings within a short period. Because they can count cost savings and cross-selling that a financial buyer cannot, they are sometimes able to pay more. They commonly decline when competition approval looks doubtful, when the cost of integrating systems is too high, when the target carries legacy liabilities such as environmental or pension obligations or when the price would dilute the return on capital.

The deal data show a clear priority in technology: almost half of strategic technology deal value in deals above US$500 million in 2025 involved AI-native companies or cited AI benefits.³

Regulation and governance

Strategic acquisitions are subject to merger control: in the UK by the Competition and Markets Authority, in Switzerland by the Competition Commission (COMCO), in the European Union by the European Commission and in the United States under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. Listed acquirers must also follow the rules of their stock exchange, which can require shareholder approval for large transactions.

Many jurisdictions also screen foreign investment in sensitive sectors. In the UK, the National Security and Investment Act 2021 requires mandatory notification of acquisitions in 17 sensitive areas of the economy, from advanced materials to transport; notifications go to the Cabinet Office.⁷ Dealogic attributed part of the 2025 rebound to expectations of a lighter-touch regulatory environment.¹

Trends in 2025 and 2026

2025 was a year of recovery for corporate M&A, with strategic deal value up 38%,³ record megadeal activity¹ and a return of sales from private equity owners to corporate buyers.⁶

In 2026 the pattern shifted towards fewer, larger deals. PwC and LSEG projections reported by Global Finance on 29 June 2026 estimate about 42,000 transactions for 2026, down 13% from 2025, with megadeals taking a larger share of value.⁴ Activity also concentrated in the United States, whose share of global value rose to 63% in the first half of 2026.⁴

Notable examples

Acquirer	Headquarters	Size or transaction
Roche	Basel	Group sales of CHF 61,516 million in 2025⁸
ABB	Zurich	Revenues of US$33,220 million in 2025⁹
Schneider Electric	Rueil-Malmaison, France	Revenue of €40.2 billion in 2025, according to Anadolu Agency, 26 February 2026¹⁰
Google (Alphabet)	Mountain View	Acquisition of Wiz for US$32 billion, according to Eqvista, 31 March 2026¹¹
BlackRock	New York	Purchase of Aligned Data Centers from Macquarie for US$40 billion, 2025⁶
Paramount	New York	Its largest all-cash bid to date, 2025¹

The table is not a ranking and implies no recommendation.

How advisers work with strategic acquirers

Sell-side advisers approach the heads of corporate development and the divisional chief executives of likely buyers, run sale processes that approach strategic and financial buyers in parallel, prepare an information memorandum and management presentations and negotiate how competition and regulatory risk is shared in the transaction documents. Buy-side advisers help corporations identify targets and value them. The largest banks dominate fee rankings: according to CT Acquisitions, citing Dealogic, JPMorgan ranked first by investment banking fees in 2025 at US$10.1 billion.¹²

Anglo-Suisse Capital advises on capital raising, M&A and secondary transactions with professional investors.

Frequently asked questions

How large was global M&A in 2025?

Dealogic reported US$4.81 trillion, up 41%.¹ LSEG data reported by PYMNTS gave US$4.5 trillion.²

Are corporates buying again?

Yes. Bain reported that strategic deal value rose 38% in 2025.³

Where are most acquisitions taking place?

US targets took 63% of global deal value in the first half of 2026, against 54% a year earlier, on Dealogic data reported by Global Finance.⁴

Do private equity-owned companies sell to corporates?

Yes. Sponsor-to-strategic exits regained importance in 2025, according to Bain.⁶ In Europe, trade sale was 22% of private equity exits in 2025.⁵

How important is AI in strategic M&A?

Very. Almost half of strategic technology deal value in deals above US$500 million in 2025 involved AI.³

Which UK acquisitions need government approval on national security grounds?

Acquisitions in the 17 sensitive areas of the economy defined under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 require mandatory notification to the Cabinet Office.⁷

How does a strategic buyer differ from a private equity buyer?

A strategic buyer is an operating company that plans to own the business indefinitely. A private equity firm buys through a fund with a fixed life and plans an exit.

Working with Anglo-Suisse Capital

Anglo-Suisse Capital advises companies, fund managers and shareholders on capital raising, M&A and secondary transactions with professional investors in the UK, Switzerland and internationally.

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Sources

This page is general information for professional investors and is not investment advice. Figures are taken from the sources listed, as at the dates stated.