The scenario for global mergers and acquisitions in the first quarter of 2026 followed the trend at the end of 2025. With a 4.4% reduction in volume compared to the last quarter of the previous year and 5.3% compared to the same period, the market has not yet given traction to a recovery.
Data from FTI Consulting points to a scenario of maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation, with strategic buyers accounting for approximately 82.5% of global business activity. Intra-sector mergers and acquisitions accounted for 58.6% of global transactions.
“This data is in line with the FTI’s reading: there is no broad recovery, there is a market concentrated in buyers with a clear and strategic thesis”, says corporate law and M&A lawyer, Rodrigo Baraldi.
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According to the FTI Consulting report, M&A activity by sector in the first quarter of 2026 remained uneven, reflecting varying levels of activity between different segments. The scenario would reflect that M&A opportunities increasingly depend on sector selection rather than overall market dynamism.
The industrial sector was the one that attracted the most M&As, with 1,857 transactions announced, equivalent to 29.2%. Information technology was second, with 1,143 businesses, or 18%, according to the FTI Consulting survey.
Data from S&P Global shows another aspect of the mergers and acquisitions market: the announced value of deals in the first quarter of 2026 reached US$861.1 billion, the highest start of the year since 2021. S&P’s analysis, however, points to 7,924 deals, a 30% reduction in deal volume.
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“What motivates this movement is a combination of three forces: strategy, technology and selective capital allocation. Strong companies are buying to consolidate the market, gain scale, access AI capabilities, data, infrastructure, talent and protect competitive positioning”, says Baraldi.
FTI Consulting considers that the aggregate transaction value in the first quarter was driven by a limited number of large deals, with several transactions exceeding US$10 billion, a disproportionate contribution to the overall total.
