Deal Drivers: Americas provides an in-depth review of M&A activity in 2024 and an outlook for 2025.

Buyers make bolder bets

The Americas overall recorded 14,012 deal announcements in 2024 worth a combined US$2tn. Respectively, these figures represent a year-over-year decline of 3.7%, but a notable 15.1% increase from US$1.8tn in 2023. Stabilizing interest rates have improved access to capital and enabled buyers to pursue larger deals that were previously prohibitive. The consequence of this is the value-to-volume ratio last year reached its highest point since 2021. It seems that market confidence is steadily rebuilding.

Private equity focus

The pace of private equity (PE) investment showed a modest recovery compared to the previous year. PE buyout volume totaled 3,678 deals, a slight year-on-year increase of 1.9%. Aggregate deal value, meanwhile, surged to US$516bn, a significant 49.9% increase from US$344bn in 2023.

Outlook heat chart

A look at anticipated M&A activity in the Americas, as tracked by Mergermarket’s heat chart illustrating ‘companies for sale’ stories, shows 2,226 potential deals identified across the region. The Northeastern US is the clear leader, accounting for 698 stories (31% of the total). The Western and Southern US also stand out, with 408 and 457 deals, respectively, highlighting robust activity in sectors like telecoms, media & technology (TMT), pharmaceuticals, medical & biotech (PMB), and business services.

Published in association with Datasite, Deal Drivers Americas provides an in-depth review of M&A activity in 2024 and an outlook for 2025.

The report is also available on datasite.com.