Deals, Doubts & Divergences: CMS European M&A Outlook 2026
The report offers a comprehensive assessment of dealmaking sentiment in Europe’s M&A market and reflects the opinions of 250 corporates and PE firms based in Europe, the Americas and APAC about their expectations for the year ahead.
The first half of 2025 brought some fresh and unexpected challenges—from tariff volatility to tightening financing conditions—with uncertainty again clouding dealmakers’ plans. Over a third of respondents to our survey believes that difficulties in arranging deal financing will be an obstacle to M&A in the coming year. Valuation gaps also persist and trade wars are also weighing heavily on dealmakers’ minds.
Yet European dealmakers are far from downbeat - 85% expect to engage in M&A next year and corporates in particular have their sights set on strategic growth. Whilst there is uncertainty in the market, it is clear that Europe’s M&A scene remains healthy and we expect to see robust dealmaking over the next 12 months.
Key findings
- Dealmakers are cautiously optimistic - despite pronounced market volatility, dealmakers continue to see opportunity in Europe. Half of respondents expect activity to increase in the next 12 months.
- Distressed and turnaround opportunities will drive both buyers and sellers - while 42% of respondents predict that non-core divestments will drive sell-side activity, 38% say distress-driven M&A will dominate – a finding mirrored by respondents’ expectations for buy-side drivers: undervalued targets and turnaround opportunities are both cited by nearly a third.
- Financing difficulties and valuation gaps may hamper M&A - over a third of respondents believes that difficulties in arranging deal financing will be a major obstacle to M&A, followed by buyer-seller valuation gaps. Predictably, trade wars are also weighing heavily on dealmakers’ minds.
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