Big ticket M&A deals getting punched

The second quarter marked yet another subdued period for M&A announcements and equity capital markets transactions.

Activity for both has been lackluster since 2022 when interest rates began to rise and the Russia-Ukraine war started adding uncertainty into the economic outlook. The prolonged dealmaking downturn reached some new lows during the second quarter, a period in which volatility spiked in wake of US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements that sent shockwaves through markets worldwide.

During the period, the number of global equity transactions and the number of US announced M&A transactions both fell to their lowest quarterly totals since the beginning of 2022. The drop in the volume of deals was partially offset by large transactions, which helped boost the total value of equity and M&A deals.

Large second-quarter M&A transactions in the US and the Asia-Pacific region helped the total value of transactions announced in the first half of 2025 grow by nearly 20% year over year. However, the total value was about in line with the second half of 2024, and 2025’s quarterly average of $760 billion remains far below levels reached in 2021, a boom year for dealmaking when activity regularly topped $1 trillion per quarter.

The total value of equity capital markets transactions over the first half of 2025 was about flat year over year. Initial public offering activity offered some positive signs.

The total value of global IPOs has increased year over year for each of the last three quarters. But the increase is off a low base, and the IPO market remains a fraction of the size it was during 2021.