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

Monthly Deal Value Trends

Aggregate global monthly deal value¹ in June was up moderately (+8%) from May to a new five-year monthly record with over $650 billion. Year-over-year, deal value was up 71%.

Strategic buyer deal value was up 11% in June from May to over $560 billion, bolstered by 10 deals over $10 billion, including SpaceX’s $60 billion acquisition of Cursor. Year-over-year, strategic value was up 84%.

Financial, or sponsor, buyer deal value declined 8% from May to June, notching below $100 billion as sponsors pulled back for the third consecutive month. Year-over-year, however, sponsor deal value was up 18%.

Monthly Deal Count Trends

Global deal count in June declined 4% from May to about 3,300 transactions, the lowest count in nearly three years. Year-over-year, global deal count was down 20%.

Strategic buyer deal count was down 5% from May to June to approximately 2,400 transactions, the lowest count in more than two years. Year-over-year, strategic buyer deal count declined 22%.

Sponsor buyer deal count in June held steady (+1%) month-over-month but declined 16% year-over-year.

 

By Deal Count

• The technology industry remained at the top for U.S. M&A activity by deal count in June, continuing its multi-year streak as the leading industry by volume.
• The industrials and business services² sectors rounded out the most active sectors in June by deal count.

By Deal Value

• The technology industry also topped the charts for U.S. M&A activity by deal value in June (with mega-acquisitions of Cursor and Roku accounting for nearly 60% of total).
• The industrials sector came in a close second, led by the Lhoist acquisition highlighted below. Healthcare took third, spurred by three billion-dollar+ transactions.

Monthly Blockbuster Deals

Largest U.S. Industrials Deal

• Martin Marietta has agreed to combine with Lhoist in a cash and stock transaction valued at $13.5 billion.

Largest U.S. Technology Deal

• SpaceX has agreed to acquire Cursor in an all-stock transaction valued at $60 billion.

Monthly Inbound U.S. M&A Activity

By deal value, inbound U.S. activity in June more than doubled (+121%) from May, with the top three deals (including UK-based GSK’s $10.6 billion acquisition of Nuvalent and Germany-based Merck’s $11.3 billion acquisition of Bio-Techne) accounting for over 50% of total. Year-over-year, inbound deal value was up 144%.

By deal count, acquisitions of U.S. targets by ex-U.S. buyers in June increased moderately (+8%) from May. Year-over-year, inbound deal count was up 9%.

• Canada- and UK-based acquirers undertook the largest number of inbound transactions in June with 35 and 33 respectively, followed by Japan and France.

Monthly Outbound U.S. M&A Activity

By deal value, acquisitions of ex-U.S. targets by U.S. buyers in June increased 26% from May to approximately $50 billion. Year-over-year, outbound deal value jumped 175% from June 2025’s 13-month low.

Outbound deal count was up 10% in June to just over 200 transactions. Year-over-year, outbound deal count decreased 16%.

• In June, U.S. acquirers predominantly looked to targets in the UK with 52 deals. Canada and Germany trailed behind; Australia and India were also popular partners.

Quarterly Global M&A Activity

• Global Q2 2026 M&A activity was mixed compared to Q1. While deal count declined (-14%), deal value was up significantly (+20%), reflecting larger and more selective dealmaking. The $1.7 trillion global deal value recorded in Q2 reflects the highest aggregate quarterly value ever, even outpacing the most robust post-pandemic quarters.
• Strategic buyer activity led the jump, increasing 31% quarter-over-quarter to $1.4 trillion, making up nearly 80% of the market and widening the gap between strategic and sponsor shares. Strategic deal count was down 13%.
• Sponsor buyer deal value declined 9% quarter-over-quarter. Compared to the same period last year (Q2 2025), deal value was up 10%. Sponsor deal count was down 19% from Q1.

Quarterly U.S. Crossborder Activity

• U.S. crossborder activity was mixed in Q2 2026 quarter-over-quarter, with inbound deal value jumping 24% and outbound deal value declining 17%. Similar to the global market, deal count dropped for both inbound and outbound activity (-11% and -23%, respectively).
• Despite a moderate pullback from Q1, outbound deal value in Q2 was the third highest quarterly value since 2022 with nearly $150 billion; outbound deal count was the lowest in a decade at just over 600 transactions.
• Inbound M&A activity in Q2 posted more modestly at about $120 billion across 450 deals. Year-over-year, quarterly value jumped 33% from Q2 2025, and volume increased 8%.

2026 First-Half Recap

The first half of 2026 (1H) saw significant jumps in deal activity across a large segment of metrics: global deal value, U.S. deal value, and outbound deal value all rose sharply compared to 1H 2025. Mega-deal activity drove much of this growth – the number of $10 billion-plus deals nearly doubled year-over-year, and the aggregate value of the top 10 deals surged as larger transactions carried the market. Deal count metrics reflect a more measured deal landscape: global and outbound deal counts each declined slightly, reflecting fewer but substantially larger transactions driving the period’s gains.

A snapshot of 1H 2026 metrics, and how they stack up against last year’s midway point:

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