Mega-Deals Drive Global M&A to $2.8 Trillion in First Half of 2026

Global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) reached a record $2.8 trillion in the first half of 2026, up 48% from a year earlier. This marked the strongest opening six months since LSEG began tracking deals in 1980.

Large takeovers carried the market. Fewer companies changed hands, yet the deals that closed were far bigger, lifting total value to a record.

Global M&A Surges to Record $2.8 Trillion

Transactions above $10 billion set the pace. Roughly 47 such deals, worth more than $1.3 trillion combined, drove close to half of all value in the period, according to LSEG data.

Meanwhile, the total number of deals fell 9% to about 24,000, the lowest first-half count in six years. Buyers favored fewer, bigger bets over broad activity.

Ivan Farman, co-head of Global M&A at Bank of America, said the stronger pace of large-scale deals compared with smaller transactions “reflects a growing view that a $1 billion to $3 billion deal takes just as much time as a larger one, so ​when an opportunity for a big transaction arises, companies see this as the moment to act.”

“So ​when an opportunity for a big transaction arises, companies see this as the moment to act,” Farman added.

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Ample financing made that ambition possible. Global investment-grade corporate debt issuance reached $3.4 trillion in the first half, up 10% from last year, Reuters reported. 

Technology continued to dominate global merger and acquisition activity. Announced deals totaled $649 billion in the first six months of the year.

Meanwhile, cross-border M&A surged to $893 billion during the first half of 2026, marking a 62% increase from the same period last year. It also represented the strongest start to a year since 2018. The US drew the most interest, at 25% of cross-border transactions. Britain ranked a close second.

While the first half has been notable, full-year momentum points higher. Global M&A is projected to reach $4 trillion in 2026, which would mark the strongest year since 2021, according to PwC.

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