Dealmaker's Digest: A Top 10 Bulletin - April 2026

Deal Value Trends

Aggregate global monthly deal value¹ in March held roughly steady, down by just 4% or approximately $20 billion from February. While strategic buyer deal value dropped, financial, or sponsor, buyer deal value jumped, evening out total deal value. Year-over-year, deal value was up 23%. 

Strategic buyer deal value decreased 22% in March from February’s nearly four-year high to approximately $300 billion. Year-over-year, strategic value was up 15%.

Financial buyer deal value increased 36% from February to March to the second highest value seen in over four years. Deal value was also up 33% year-over-year. 

Deal Count Trends

Global deal count in March skyrocketed 64% from February to about 3,400 transactions and continued the increasing trend since January 2026’s four-year low. March recorded three-year records for both strategic and sponsor buyer deals. As aggregate deal value held steady, this equates to a 24% decrease in average deal value as compared to February. Year-over-year, global deal count was up 60%.

Strategic buyer deal count was up 68% from February to March to approximately 1,900 transactions. Year-over-year, strategic buyer deal count was up 50%.

Sponsor deal count in March was up 58% from February to approximately 1,500 transactions and was up 76% year-over-year.

By Deal Count

• The software industry remained at the top for U.S. M&A activity by deal count in March, continuing its multiyear streak as the leading industry by volume, driven by nearly 90 investments in artificial intelligence. But despite nearly 250 deals, software took fifth place by value with just $15 billion.
• Services industries (financial and nonfinancial) also remained active, again rounding out the most active industries in March by deal count.
  
  

By Deal Value

• The energy industry topped the charts for U.S. M&A activity by deal value in March, with the AES deal highlighted below accounting for the majority of the industry’s value.
• The biotechnology and consumer retail industries took second and third place, respectively. Biotechnology was bolstered by eight deals above $1 billion and consumer retail was carried by the Restaurant Depot deal highlighted below.

Monthly Blockbuster Deals

Largest U.S. Strategic Deal

Sysco has agreed to acquire Restaurant Depot for a mix of cash and stock with total equity value of approximately $29.1 billion.

Largest U.S. Sponsor Deal

A consortium of investors⁴ led by Global Infrastructure Partners and EQT has agreed to acquire AES for an enterprise value of approximately $33.4 billion.

Monthly Inbound U.S. M&A Activity

• By deal value, inbound U.S. activity in March declined 11% from February to just over $30 billion, with 12 deals over $1 billion. Year-over-year, inbound deal value was down 25%.
• By deal count, acquisitions of U.S. targets by ex-U.S. buyers in March jumped 76% from February to the highest volume since October 2023, driven by software acquisitions. Year-over-year, inbound deal count was up 49%.
• UK-based acquirers undertook the largest number of inbound transactions in March, followed by Canada and Japan. China, India, and France were also popular partners.

Monthly Outbound U.S. M&A Activity

• By deal value, acquisitions of ex-U.S. targets by U.S. buyers in March were up 35% from February to approximately $90 billion, the highest value recorded in over three years. McCormick’s pending $44.8 billion acquisition of UK-based Unilever’s Foods business accounted for nearly half of the monthly outbound value. Year-over-year, outbound deal value was up 67%.
• Outbound deal count was also up 56% in March to nearly 225 transactions, the highest count in over two years. Year-over-year, outbound deal count was up 46%.
• In March, U.S. acquirers predominantly looked to targets in the UK, followed by Canada and Israel. India, the Netherlands, and Australia were also popular partners.

Quarterly Global M&A Activity

• Global Q1 2026 M&A activity was down from Q4 2025, the most valuable quarter since before 2020, nearly across the board (apart from sponsor deal value). Global deal value declined 22% to approximately $1.5 trillion but was about level with Q3 2025 value (down by just $10.8 billion). Compared with the same period last year (Q1 2025), aggregate deal value increased 13%. 
• Sponsor buyer deal value was the only metric to increase, up 9% from last quarter and up 31% from the same period last year. Strategic deal value was down 38% quarter-over-quarter but steady with Q1 2025.
• Global deal count decreased 9% quarter-over-quarter, with activity by strategics (-15%) falling further than sponsors (-2%). Compared to Q1 2025, deal count was also down 12%.
  
  

Quarterly U.S. Crossborder Activity

• U.S. crossborder activity was mixed in Q1 2026 quarter-over-quarter, with large differences in quarterly value among inbound (down 22%) and outbound (up 27%) transactions but steady across deal volume (-1% inbound and +1% outbound). Outbound deal value was approximately $200 billion in Q1 2026, the highest recorded since Q2 2022.
• Compared with the same time period last year (Q1 2025), inbound deal value declined more modestly (-9%), and outbound deal value increased more prominently (+73%). 
• Compared to Q1 2025, inbound crossborder deal count also dropped 10%, and outbound count was down 3%. 

For more information, please contact your usual Ropes & Gray attorney or reach out to a member of our M&A team below.