October brought another sluggish month for mid-market M&A, with just 54 deals totaling roughly $20 billion—the second-lowest total of the year. But while activity remains tepid, bright spots in areas like real estate and technology are giving hope that 2026 will finally provide the pick-up most dealmakers were expecting this year. Here’s our monthly deal analysis.
Only August had a poorer performance in terms of deal totals, according to data provided by LSEG. By comparison, September ended up with 70 deals worth approximately $24 billion. The data is based on North American completed deals worth between $100 billion and $1 billion.
Year to date total show a flat-at-best performance. There were 739 deals worth around $230.5 billion, as of Oct. 31, compared to 778 deals valued at around $237.4 billion through the same time period last year.
The good news is found in specific sectors. The real estate sector is surging led by the demand wait for it…for data centers. That industry saw 101 deals valued close to $26 billion as of Oct. 31, compared to 56 deals worth around $12.9 billion through the same time period a year ago.
The technology sector is still on the rise thanks to the demand for AI infrastructure, seeing 188 deals closed so far this year worth around $50.5 billion compared to 169 deals worth close to $45 billion through the same time frame last year.
Other sectors seeing an uptick include industrials, financials and consumer products and services with 86, 71 and 38 deals so far this year, respectively, compared to 80, 69 and 37 deals, respectively from this time last year.
“Many people were extremely optimistic about deal flow when we started 2025,” says Reed Smith Partner Chris Sheaffer. “However, political and macroeconomic uncertainty pushed a lot of transaction timelines as people tried to navigate tariff exposure and government cuts. Once everyone seemed to understand the market a bit better after the first six months, we saw a huge uptick in books from the banks and for transactions more broadly.”
The healthcare, energy, media and entertainment, retail and consumer staples sectors continue to drag with 93, 69, 23, 11 and 9 deals, respectively, compared to 150, 93, 36, 20 and 21 deals, respectively from this time last year.
Notable deals that closed in October include RaceTrac‘s $566 million acquisition of sandwich chain Potbelly and GTCR’s $200 million minority investment in dental water‑treatment firm Solmetex.
In league tables, JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) round out the top of three by deal value. Out of those three, Goldman advised on the most deals (42).
“Instead of seeing processes launch right after Labor Day, we were already in full deal mode with IOI’s being submitted and sell side QOE’s being complete,” says Sheaffer. “Everyone seemed to have the same playbooks and as a result it’s been a really busy September and October.”
This bodes well for a strong finish to the year.
See the full list of October’s biggest mid-market deals here.
