Mid-market M&A continued to sputter along with year-to-date total deal value only slightly higher than last year due to larger transaction sizes. Experts say they aren’t surprised where things stand as geopolitical conflicts prolong due diligence and buyers in general are in no rush to consummate deals. Here is our monthly deal analysis.
While mid-market M&A deal values rose last month by 5 percent, this volume was on six fewer deals, due to the average deal size being large in May. But the bigger picture continues to show a downward progression of M&A in the space, with no bottom in sight.
Year to date, total deal value is up 2 percent while the number of transactions is off 6 percent, according to data from LSEG. These are transactions valued between $100 million and $1 billion.
Average deal size through this period was $300 million in 2025 and $324 million in 2026, an increase of 8 percent.
“It wasn’t a surprising month,” says Morrison Cohen Partner Randi Mason, who is also the chair of the firm’s corporate group. “It is not surprising to me to see that there’s a little bit of choppiness in the market. Deals are starting and then pausing as people are doing their due diligence. I think when you compare it to four years ago, buyers are still a little bit more cautious. They’re being more careful with their diligence. It’s not a race to the finish line, but they are getting deals done.”
Sector Winners
The strongest sectors so far this year continue to be Financials and Technology (39 and 21 percent volume increase respectively). There’s been a sharp jump in Consumer Staples (16 deals versus 2 by this time last year) thanks to transactions like Dutch beverage giant Refresco officially completing its acquisition of organic food and plant-based drink maker SunOpta. Refresco is backed by KKR.
Other sectors like Materials and Media are ahead of last year’s pace.
Industries continuing to show sharp declines include Energy, Consumer Products, Telecoms, Real Estate and Industrials.
Notable deals that closed last month included:
- Leonard Green & Partners‘ $3.1B take-private of Mister Car Wash
- Providence-backed 365 Retail Markets’ $848 million deal for retail technology provider Cantaloupe
- Barclays’ $800 million acquisition of fintech company Best Egg
League Tables
Through the first five months of the year, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) sits in first place advising on 27 deals worth around $14 billion, well ahead of JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) who have each advised on 16 deals so far.
“If there were any surprises this year, it’s that people came back to the market more quickly than from the start of the war in Iran than I would have expected; certainly more than I would have expected had such an event happened a decade ago,” says Mason.
Reach mason at: [email protected]
See the full list of May’s biggest mid-market deals here.
