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

Bigger, but not busier, in today’s two-track M&A market

Deal volume across the Americas slid in H1, declining by 17.7% year-on-year to 6,217 transaction announcements. But aggregate deal value moved in the opposite direction, rising by 17.1% to nearly US$1.2tn. The quantum of capital being put to work has moved up as fewer but larger transactions, on average, are being made.

Private equity push

Americas buyout volume fell by 17.9% year-on-year to 1,646 transactions, reflecting ongoing challenges in the mid-market as fundraising concentrates in the hands of larger, blue-chip names. However, aggregate buyout value surged by 38.7% to US$318bn, easily surpassing the H1 performances of 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Open invitation

No one deal is as definitive of our times as OpenAI’s success in securing US$40bn in funding, catapulting its valuation to US$300bn. Spearheaded by SoftBank Group, this massive capital injection aims to fuel advanced AI system development and the ambitious Stargate initiative, powerfully underscoring the incentive to gain a seat at the table of AI’s breakneck development.

Published in association with Datasite. The report is also available on datasite.com.