A flurry of megadeals in transportation, technology and infrastructure has propelled global mergers and acquisitions to their strongest showing since 2021, even as the number of transactions languishes at levels not seen since the financial crisis.

According to data provider Mergermarket's latest M&A Highlights report, worldwide deal values surged 32% year-on-year to $3.4 trillion in the first nine months of 2025. This was powered by 49 transactions worth more than $10 billion each — the highest number Mergermarket has on record.

"While certain headwinds persist, we anticipate that high-profile deals will continue to set the tone for the remainder of the year and into 2026," Allison Schneirov, a global head of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP's transactions practices, told Law360.

The firm is seeing "sustained optimism from buyers, which we believe highlights their readiness to engage in meaningful transactions despite any uncertainty," she said.

Yet deal count remains close to all-time lows, reflecting a bifurcated market in which large-cap corporates dominate, while small and mid-sized companies shy away from pursuing deals amid volatile conditions.

Data provided by Dealogic puts the precise deal count into perspective, showing just 29,879 transactions through September — the lowest year-to-date figure in a data set stretching back to 2015.

The Dealogic data also shows that the roughly $3.4 billion in global values was the highest figure during the same period, with the exception of the record-breaking performance in 2021 that eclipsed $4.5 trillion.

"It feels like we've been on a local train that starts and stops in a lot of places," said Mahvesh Qureshi, head of corporate and finance at Hogan Lovells for the Americas, in the report. "My cautious optimism for 4Q25 is that we are now on a bullet train that will take us rapidly onwards."

Global Trends: Value Up, Volume Down

The blockbuster transactions of 2025 provided a boost to overall values. Union Pacific's takeover of Norfolk Southern, which valued the latter company around $85 billion, marked the largest merger in more than three years, while Electronic Arts' $55 billion buyout by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners set a new record for leveraged buyouts.

Other landmark moves included Charter Communications' $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox Communications and a series of multibillion-dollar AI investments by Google, Meta and Anthropic.

Technology led the pack: Tech M&A jumped 58% to $809 billion, representing nearly a quarter of total global volume, the report said.

!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}})}(); At the same time, corporate streamlining and carveouts surged. Divestitures and spinoffs totaled about $916 billion, their highest level since 2021.

Executives have increasingly used breakups to unlock shareholder value, as seen in Holcim's $33.7 billion spinoff of its North American unit, Amrize.

But beneath the headline figures, the mid-market remains subdued.

The aggregate value of transactions over $10 billion surged 90% year-over-year to $986 billion. But deals between $1 billion and $2 billion rose a more modest 18%, while those smaller than $1 billion edged up just 2%.

Many megadeals were planned over long periods and their strategic nature makes them less sensitive to macroeconomic volatility, said Benjamin Sibbett, head of Clifford Chance's Americas corporate practice, in the report.

"You don't just decide to merge Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern overnight," Sibbett said.

North America: A Bifurcated Boom

North America was at the heart of the dealmaking surge. The region recorded $1.77 trillion in M&A value, up 35% year-on-year, making it the second-strongest nine-month stretch on record after the 2021 boom, the report said.

Yet, as with the global performance, deal count fell — 6% to just 8,987 transactions — for the lowest tally since 2009.

The divergence underscores the reliance on select megadeals to drive overall activity. The 10 largest transactions accounted for 22% of North American volume, with four sealed in the third quarter alone. Alongside Norfolk Southern and Electronic Arts, highlights included OpenAI's $40 billion funding round in March.

"AI, digital infrastructure and technology-driven transactions are transforming the M&A landscape, introducing new complexities and opportunities for both buyers and sellers," said Schneirov from Skadden.

"Many companies are acquiring AI talent, not just technology," she said. "Due diligence also has to go beyond traditional IP and buyers need to focus on evolving regulation so they can ensure compliance as the law in this area continues to develop."

Policy developments shaped the region's flows as well. "After a turbulent start to the year — marked by policy disruptions including President Trump's tariff and Liberation Day announcements — optimism rebounded in the summer," the report said.

Domestic M&A climbed to $1.3 trillion, while inbound investment rose steadily to $283 billion.

The sector mix tells a similar story. Technology deals alone comprised 30% of North American M&A at $529 billion, with artificial intelligence funding rounds and acquisitions setting the tone.

Utilities and energy also rose sharply, driven by the urgent need to power data centers supporting AI workloads. Constellation Energy's $26.6 billion acquisition of Calpine and Baker Hughes' $13.8 billion purchase of Chart Industries stood out among energy deals.

Private equity also staged a comeback, albeit selectively. Buyout volume in North America jumped 51% to $376 billion, led by the EA transaction, Air Lease's $28.2 billion buyout, and Sycamore Partners' $24 billion acquisition of Walgreens Boots Alliance. Exit activity followed suit, rising 52% to $253 billion.

New tax provisions in the U.S. are likely to foster more private equity dealmaking, said Julia Taylor, a partner at Saul Ewing, in the report.

Specifically, she called attention to the reinstatement of business interest expense deductions based on the higher cash-flow metric of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA — rather than just EBIT — which will lower the cost of financing and improve cash flow for acquisitions financed with debt.

"We expect this to drive M&A activity, especially for buyers that are reliant on debt to fund acquisitions — so private equity shops and other financial buyers," Taylor said.

Outlook: Momentum Heading Into Q4

Despite headwinds from tariffs, uneven economic performance and policy uncertainty, momentum picked up markedly in the summer months. September posted $277.5 billion in deal value, the best monthly total since April 2021, the report said.

Looking ahead, the report flags several high-value sales in the pipeline, including Occidental Petroleum's planned divestment of OxyChem, which Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway agreed to purchase for $9.7 billion on Thursday, and Madison Industries' potential sale of its Filtration Group.

With auctions heating up and financing conditions improving after the Federal Reserve's September rate cut, dealmakers are working to close transactions before year-end.

"People are feeling cautiously optimistic that the market will continue to become more active," Clifford Chance partner Benjamin Sibbett noted in the report.

To navigate headwinds, sponsors and corporates are turning to creative deal structures like joint ventures with buyout options, earnouts, preferred equity, minority stakes, GP stakes transactions, secondary transactions and continuation vehicles, said Sibbett.

Still, the broader picture remains one of concentration at the top. For all the buzz around megadeals, the middle market — long the engine of steady M&A activity — has yet to re-engage in a meaningful way. Whether that changes in 2026 may depend on a clearer macroeconomic trajectory and renewed confidence among smaller corporates.

For now, 2025 looks to be a year defined by larger deals that taking on even more prominence in the global corporate landscape, underscoring the increasing dominance of deep-pocketed strategics and financial sponsors.

As technology, industrials, energy and infrastructure continue to be particularly active in part by ongoing investment in AI and "digital transformation," Schneirov of Skadden said there are "no signs of slowing down."

But she added: "We have stopped trying to predict the M&A cycle — every time we do, it proves us wrong. M&A will always be part of the capital allocation toolkit, so we try and focus on helping our clients navigate whatever conditions exist."