February brought four new $10B-plus M&A deals and Warner Bros. shakeup

Four new M&A deals with more than $10 billion in transaction value were announced in February, and the resolution of a streaming deal's bidding war produced the largest transaction value of the past 12 months.

The February announcements — two in the energy sector and two in financials — brought the first quarter's count up to seven deals, equaling the count of the full first quarter of 2025, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

Separately, Paramount Skydance Corp., which first announced a competing bid against Netflix Inc. in December 2025, emerged victorious as the buyer of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. in February. After multiple rejected bids, Paramount's final offer of $31 per share was too good for Warner Bros. to pass up. The two companies signed a definitive agreement on Feb. 27, cementing a transaction valued at $109.97 billion, the largest announced M&A deal by transaction value in the past 12 months.

The two energy deals announced in February rank among the largest of the past 12 months in transaction value.

Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp. said Feb. 2 that it plans to acquire Houston-based Coterra Energy Inc. in a deal with a transaction value of $25.62 billion. The combined oil production company will keep Devon Energy's name but move its headquarters to Houston, according to the merger agreement. Roughly $1 billion in annual synergies are expected to be realized by the end of 2027, Devon Energy CEO Clay Gaspar said in an M&A deal call.

In February's second energy deal, French renewable energy company Engie SA announced Feb. 25 it plans to acquire the United Kingdom-based UK Power Networks Holdings Ltd. (UKPN) from its current investor group owners. The deal has a transaction value of $21.39 billion.

UKPN is a leading electricity distribution operator in the UK, and the country will be Engie's second-most active market, according to the merger announcement.

– View transaction statistics across all sectors. – Read an M&A and equity offerings research paper. – Read more investment banking news.

In the financials sector, Spanish bank Banco Santander SA announced its acquisition of Stamford, Connecticut-based Webster Financial Corp. on Feb. 3. The deal has a transaction value of $12.23 billion, making it the third-largest US bank deal since 2010.

The deal fills in a hole in Santander's physical footprint in the Northeast region, its retail banking hub in the US. Webster will also improve several metrics on Santander's balance sheet.

The other February financials deal, announced Feb. 12, was Chicago-based private asset manager Nuveen LLC's planned acquisition of 99.63% of London-based publicly traded asset manager Schroders PLC. Schroders is currently owned by a group of UK and Bermuda-based investors, while Nuveen is owned by Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America, the ultimate buyer in the transaction. The deal has a transaction value of $12.92 billion.

Combining Nuveen and Schroders will create a global asset management firm with nearly $2.5 trillion of assets under management, according to the merger release. Following the deal's completion, which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, Schroders will operate as a standalone business within the wider Nuveen group.