Global Activity North America represented just over half of global activity, while Europe and APAC each accounted for roughly one-fifth. North America M&A value rose 52% yearover-year to approximately $2.65 trillion, supported by strong domestic consolidation and inbound investment, including more than $100 billion deployed by Japanese buyers and significant Middle Eastern sovereign investment in marquee assets. Europe M&A value increased 24% to approximately $1 trillion, with inbound transactions accounting for roughly 28% of total regional deal value in the second half of 2025, driven largely by U.S. and Gulf-based acquirers. APAC M&A value climbed 33% to approximately $1 trillion, supported by a record 13 megadeals totaling more than $200 billion. Inbound investment surged 2.4x yearover-year, and outbound transactions rose 49%. The Japanese market was a standout, with M&A value rising 87% year-over-year to approximately $207 2 For a copy of Morrison & Foerster’s Tech M&A Survey, conducted in partnership with Mergermarket, released Dec. 9, 2025, see New Directions: AI Ubiquity, Risk Exposure, and Pursuing Scale in Global Tech M&A, mofo.com/resources/news/251209-mofo-survey-new-directions-ai-ubiquity. 3 For guidance and information about the latest and most significant developments in AI, see Morrison & Foerster’s AI Resource Center, mofo.com/artificial-intelligence. billion, buoyed by corporate governance reforms (including the continuing impact of takeover guidelines from the Japanese government), shareholder activism, and a favorable financial environment, including low interest rates and a cheap yen, with PE firms finding an interest in carve-out, take-private, and other investments. Key Sectors Technology Technology M&A increased 66% year-over-year to approximately $1.08 trillion, driven by AI, data infrastructure, and cybersecurity transactions. Buyers pursued scale, talent, and critical capabilities through acquisitions as well as minority investments and large funding rounds. In North America, technology transactions totaled approximately $736 billion, a 93% year-over-year increase, representing 28% of total regional M&A value, with AIrelated deals accounting for roughly 22% of technology value. AI deals included several “acquihires,” in which tech companies hired key talent from, and made significant investments in or licensing arrangements with, AI companies, without buying the entire company, such as Meta’s $14.3 billion investment in and hiring of the CEO of Scale AI. Morrison Foerster’s Tech M&A Survey, released in December 2025,2 found that 57% of tech dealmakers expect technology deal count to increase over the next 12 months. Not surprisingly, respondents chose AI as the tech subsector presenting the best opportunities for dealmaking over the next 12 months, followed by cybersecurity and enterprise/logistics software. AI regulation is evolving rapidly, from multiple sources and often in ways that will significantly affect operations and risk allocation and thus must be considered in investments (as discussed below),3 but many dealmakers believe the stricter regulation will benefit M&A by providing a more mature and predictable framework. Life Sciences Life sciences M&A was characterized by targeted consolidation and portfolio optimization. Globally, healthcare M&A reached approximately $490 billion, supported by continued interest in companies with strong pipelines and defensible IP. In EMEA, healthcare was the fastest-growing sector, posting a 151% year-overyear increase to approximately Overview 2025 M&A Annual Review 37
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