2025 was the year of the megadeal, with total global M&A values reaching $4.8trn – the second-strongest year on record – as a wave of blockbuster transactions helped to keep market confidence buoyant.
Competition authorities around the world played their part in this, with merger enforcement easing in the US and the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocking no deals last year, according to a report by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
