In Dealmaker’s Digest, read the top 10 latest developments in global transactions. We offer insights into M&A activity across industries and borders.

Key Takeaways

• Global deal value in March dwarfed activity in January and February, driven by a surge in megadeals late in the quarter.
• Q1 deal value held steady quarter-over-quarter and increased 12% from Q1 2024, despite tepid economic conditions and declining deal counts.
• Cross-border M&A jumped significantly in March. Inbound value was up 152% and outbound value doubled, with large-dollar acquisitions offsetting the decline in deal tallies.

Monthly Global M&A Activity Update

Deal Value Trends

Aggregate global monthly deal value¹ in March jumped 62% from February and exceeded $400 billion for the first time in 18 months. A wave of megadeals drove March’s spike in an otherwise tepid Q1 market environment. Year-over-year, aggregate monthly deal value increased 55%.

Transactions involving strategic buyers in March increased 56% from February and marked the highest value in six months. Strategic deal value in March was up 38% year-over-year.

Financial, or sponsor, buyer transactions in March exceeded $180 billion (levels not seen since 2022). This was a significant jump from February (71%) and year-over-year (86%). Sponsors deployed significant amounts of capital in the retail, technology and industrial sectors, among other key targets.

Deal Count Trends

Global deal count in March decreased 9% month-over-month and 8% year-over-year.

Strategic buyer deal count declined in March, down 10% both month-over-month and year-over-year.

Sponsor buyer deal count in March declined 8% month-over-month and 6% year-over-year, rounding out a month of declining deal counts across all buyer types.

Crossborder Corner

Monthly Inbound U.S. M&A Activity

• By deal value, acquisitions of U.S. targets by non-U.S. acquirers skyrocketed 152% in March to over $40 billion, bolstered by significant acquisitions of technology, infrastructure and healthcare targets. Year-over-year value jumped 170%.
• Inbound U.S. activity decreased modestly by deal count in March, down 6% from February and 7% year-over-year.
• UK-based acquirers drove the most inbound deals in March (with 17 deals). Canada and Japan followed with 16 and 15 transactions, respectively.

Monthly Outbound U.S. M&A Activity

• By deal value, outbound activity jumped 100% from February to March, surpassing $50 billion for only the second time in over two years. Year-over-year, outbound deal value was up 82%.
• By deal count, March outbound activity decreased 11% from February. Year-over-year, deal count remained steady, down just 1%.
• U.S. acquirers most frequently looked to targets in the UK during March (at 36 transactions). Canada and India trailed behind at 13 and 10 transactions, respectively.

Quarterly Review

Quarterly Global M&A Activity

• Global M&A activity in Q1 2025 held steady by deal value quarter-over-quarter, with a downtick of just $3 billion. Compared with Q1 2024, deal value was up 12%.
• Both strategic and sponsor deal value were steady quarter-over-quarter. Compared with Q1 2024, strategic deal value decreased 6% while sponsor value jumped 55%.
• Global deal count in Q1 2025 dropped 16% from Q4 2024, with strategic activity declining more (18%) than sponsor activity (11%). Compared to Q1 2024, deal count across buyer types held steady.

Quarterly U.S. Crossborder Activity

• Despite March 2025’s strong showing, inbound deal value in Q1 2025 dropped 13% quarter-over-quarter. Compared with Q1 of last year, however, inbound value was up 29%.
• Outbound deal value in Q1 2025 held steady quarter-over-quarter (down just 1%) and was up 29% compared with Q1 2024.
• The volume of inbound and outbound U.S. transactions were mixed: quarter-over-quarter–inbound deal count was up 5%, while outbound activity declined 15%. Compared with Q1 2024, volume was similarly mixed: inbound deal count was up 6%, while outbound activity fell 2%.

Active M&A Industries (U.S. Targets)

By Deal Count

• The software industry once again topped the list of U.S. M&A activity by deal count in March, continuing its streak as the most active industry for the month.
• Services industries remained active, with financial and other professional services rounding out the top three sectors in March by deal count.

By Deal Value

• Software was also the leading U.S. industry by deal value in March, bolstered by several multi-billion dollar deals, including the Wiz deal highlighted below.
• The financial services and retail industries trailed in second and third, respectively, for most active sectors by deal value in March.

March Blockbuster Deals

Largest U.S. Strategic Deal

Google LLC has agreed to acquire Wiz, Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $32 billion.

Largest U.S. Sponsor Deal

Sycamore Partners has agreed to acquire Walgreens Boots Alliance in a transaction valued at approximately $23.7 billion.

1. ^{Unless otherwise noted, charts compiled using Mergermarket data for March 2025, as of April 7, 2025. Aggregate deal values by dollar amount are calculated from the subset of deals with disclosed values.}
2. ^{Medical industry classification principally includes medical devices/technology/services, excluding biotech and pharmaceutical deals.}