BLOG — Oct. 31, 2025
M&A growth rides on big-ticket deals
Highlights
- Over the first nine months of 2025, US IPO issuances totals climbed more than 77% year over year to $46.39 billion, more than the full-year totals in each of the last three years.
- The global announced M&A third-quarter total transaction value reached $950.63 billion, up 24.2% from the previous quarter and up 28.4% from the year-ago quarter.
The third quarter produced plenty of signs that the dealmaking recovery is underway, but the transaction activity is not firing on all cylinders.
The total value of global M&A and initial public offerings jumped during the period. The increase helped ensure that full-year totals for transaction value of M&A and IPOs are on track for year-over-year growth.
However, the uptick in M&A was driven by large deals and a lack of middle-market transactions has suppressed the total number of transactions. Also, the growth in deal value was driven by transactions in US as the largest M&A market grabbed an even bigger portion of the activity. The increase in the US’s M&A market share came at the expense of regions such as Asia-Pacific, which saw a significant drop in the total value of deals.
In the capital markets, the increase in IPOs was not enough to offset a drop in the total value of all equity transactions. The total value of US equity transactions had been growing on a year-over-year basis, but that came to end in the third quarter. The number of US equity transactions hit its lowest point in three years.
However, US IPOs recorded its strongest quarter in more than three years, and it helped drive up the total value of the deals globally.