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

Monthly Deal Value Trends

Aggregate global monthly deal value¹ in September held steady (0%) from August, rounding out a subdued quarter. Year-over-year, deal value was down 21%.

Strategic buyer deal value increased 35% in September from August to approximately $300 billion, as strategic buyers accounted for a larger share (about 77%) of overall deal value. Year-over-year, strategic deal value was up 10%.

Private equity (sponsor) deal value plummeted 47% from August to September to approximately $90 billion, the lowest sponsor deal value in the trailing 13-month window. Year-over-year, sponsor deal value was down 59%.

Monthly Deal Count Trends

Global deal count in September declined 5% from August to just under 3,000 transactions, a three-year low. Year-over-year, global deal count was down 27%.

Strategic buyer deal count was down 6% from August to September, to approximately 2,100 transactions. Year-over-year, strategic buyer deal count was down 27%.

Sponsor deal count in September was roughly steady (-2%) with August at just under 900 transactions. Year-over-year, sponsor deal count was down 26%.

By Deal Count

• The technology sector remained at the top for U.S. M&A activity by deal count in September with more than 250 deals, about level with last month and continuing its multiyear streak as the leading industry by volume. 
• Industrials rose to second place, including (among more than 150 others) the GE Aerospace-CPP transaction highlighted below.

By Deal Value

• The technology sector also topped the charts for U.S. M&A activity by deal value in September with approximately $54 billion, led by the NVIDIA-Hugging Face deal highlighted below. 
• Industrials took second place by deal value as well, bolstered by the second and third largest transactions of the month. Energy & natural resources took third place with seven deals above $1 billion.

Monthly Blockbuster Deals

Largest U.S. Technology Deal

• NVIDIA has agreed to acquire Hugging Face in a transaction valued at approximately $12.9 billion.

Largest U.S. Industrials Deal

• GE Aerospace has agreed to acquire Consolidated Precision Products in a transaction valued at approximately $11.75 billion.
  
   

Monthly Inbound U.S. M&A Activity

By deal value, crossborder inbound U.S. activity in September declined 13% from August to approximately $19 billion, with eight deals over $1 billion. Year-over-year, inbound deal value was down 83% from September 2025’s outlier high.

By deal count, acquisitions of U.S. targets by non-U.S. buyers in September were about steady (-2%) with August. Year-over-year, inbound deal count was down 31%.

• Canadian acquirers undertook the largest number of inbound transactions in September, followed by the UK. Japan, Italy, and France were also active acquirers.

Monthly Outbound U.S. M&A Activity

By deal value, acquisitions of non-U.S. targets by U.S. buyers in September fell 34% from August to approximately $31 billion. Year-over-year, outbound deal value was down 25%.

Crossborder outbound deal count was up 12% in September from August to just over 200 transactions. Year-over-year, outbound deal count was down 19%.

• In September, U.S. acquirers predominantly targeted the UK, followed by Canada and Germany. Australia, France, and Spain were also popular target countries.

Quarterly Global M&A Activity

• Global Q3 2026 M&A activity declined from the record-setting Q2 2026 across most metrics. Global deal value dropped 28% to approximately $1.2 trillion. Compared with the same period last year (Q3 2025), aggregate deal value was down 5%.
• Sponsor buyer deal value moderately increased quarter-over-quarter, up 26% from Q2 2026 but down 3% from the same period last year. Strategic deal value was down 43% quarter-over-quarter and down 6% year-over-year.
• Global deal count decreased 17% quarter-over-quarter, with activity by strategics (-20%) falling further than sponsors (-10%). Compared to Q3 2025, deal count was down 16%.

Quarterly U.S. Crossborder Activity

• U.S. crossborder activity declined in Q3 2026 quarter-over-quarter. Inbound deal value was nearly steady (-2%) while outbound value was down 24%. Deal counts fell across the board, with inbound down 22% and outbound down 10%.
• Compared with the same period last year (Q3 2025), inbound and outbound deal value were down 15% and 14%, respectively.
• Compared with Q3 2025, inbound crossborder deal count was down 10%, and outbound count was down 12%.

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