M&A activity in Switzerland has shown resilience in 2025 despite macroeconomic headwinds, and is likely to continue to do so, dealmakers told Mergermarket.

The country’s currency and stock markets have been volatile in 2025 after it was singled out for tariffs on exports to the US which, at a baseline of 39%, are well in excess of those levied on EU peers.

Domestic and outbound activity has stayed robust, helped by investment from the country’s pharmaceuticals companies into drug pipelines and some signs corporates are seeking deals abroad to mitigate the impact of tariffs on their supply chains.

One of the idiosyncrasies of the Swiss market is that much of its M&A is conducted by large, listed corporates which are headquartered in the Alpine country despite having a relatively small operational footprint there.

Outbound M&A deal volume, at EUR 29bn in the year through 8 October, has exceeded inbound and domestic activity in Switzerland so far this year, and also did so in the same period last year, according to Mergermarket data.

“2025 is shaping up to be a strong year for Swiss M&A and the pipeline of potential deals remains very robust,” said Reinout Boettcher, senior country officer for Switzerland and head of Swiss Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan.

“Cross-border M&A continues to define the Swiss market, with domestic firms – particularly in the healthcare and industrial sectors – actively seeking acquisitions abroad,” Boettcher said.

“Pharmaceutical companies, equipped with a lot of financing capacity, frequently turn to M&A to replenish their drug pipelines, helping to sustain the deal momentum in healthcare,” he added.

“The United States remains an attractive destination to do business and, by extension, M&A,” Boettcher said. “However, European consolidation may start playing a bigger role going forward in light of recent geopolitical developments.”

The largest outbound deal of 2025 so far certainly fits this blueprint. Basel-headquartered pharmaceuticals giant Roche agreed to acquire a commercial licence for diabetes and obesity drugs from Denmark-based Zealand Pharma for USD 5.25bn (EUR 4.5bn) in March.

Eight out of 10 of Switzerland’s largest outbound deals were conducted by pharma companies based in the country.

Tariffs implemented by US President Donald Trump on the country’s trading partners have to an extent shaped the M&A strategy of Swiss corporates.

Management teams are assessing the impact of higher trade barriers on their operations around the world and are searching for deals which can help protect competitive positioning.

“Currently we see it as driver for outbound M&A as Swiss companies seek to address the impact on supply chains,” said Brice Bolinger, head of M&A Switzerland at UBS said.

“Over the last months we have seen a meaningful increase in M&A activity both in the large and mid-cap segment as companies adapt to the new reality and there is more clarity on the macro-economic outlook.”

Public markets deals drive domestic activity

Domestic activity in Switzerland has also been brisk in 2025, helped by a few large public markets transactions.

The aggregate disclosed value of Swiss deals is up 52% in the year through 9 October, reaching EUR 28bn.

Helvetia’s EUR 9.4bn all-share offer for Swiss life insurer Baloise is the country’s largest domestic deal so far this year.

The merger will create the second-largest insurance group in Switzerland and accounted for more than a third of the disclosed value of M&A in Switzerland year-to-date.

It also illustrates how lumpy deal-flow can be in Switzerland, with large transactions like Baloise/Helvetia often skewing year-to-year comparisons.

The most notable transaction of this kind was Syngenta’s acquisition by China state-backed ChemChina in 2016 for CHF 45.2bn (EUR 48.4bn), including debt, contributing to a spike in deal volume that year.

Similarly, Novartis’s demerger of eye care products subsidiary Alcon, worth CHF 28.4bn including debt, boosted deal volumes in 2019.

The largest private equity-backed take-private of a Switzerland-based corporate year-to-date Is Advent’s proposed takeover of u-blox, a provider of positioning and short-range communication technologies.

Advent expects to complete the transaction later this quarter after it confirmed shareholders tendered 65% of the target’s share capital into its offer last week.

”Interest in public to private transactions remains elevated – it certainly helps that there have been various successful transactions recently,” Tino Gaberthüel, head of corporate and M&A and co-head of capital markets at Lenz Staehelin said.

Clariant, a Swiss speciality chemicals producer, chocolatier Barry Callebaut, duty-free operator Avolta and banking software provider Temenos are among the Switzerland-listed businesses currently being tracked by this news service as potential takeover targets.

Dealmakers noted that improved macroeconomic visibility and a constructive financing environment helped unlock deal pipelines, particularly in the mid and large-cap segment.

”2025 is shaping up to be a strong year for Swiss M&A and the pipeline of potential deals remains very robust,” JP Morgan’s Boettcher added.