M&A Momentum and Trump Trades: Dealmakers’ Predictions for 2025

Mergers and acquisition activity rebounded in 2024, as access to cheaper financing released a pent-up demand to do deals after two down years. Many private equity firms have tried to softly test the market in 2024 to see if there was appetite for their portfolio assets, but many sales processes haven’t properly launched.” Anne Hiebler, global head of M&A, Credit Agricole On deal drivers: “There are still headwinds ahead such as lower growth in some sectors, deal complexity and increased duration between signing and closing as well as geopolitical instability and uncertainty in some countries, but overall we are going in the right direction. The confluence of financial sponsor activity, strategic activity in general, and a handful of mega transactions could lead to a very sizable year for 2025 and looking into 2026.” Andrei Milekhin, global head of digital infrastructure investment banking, Nomura Holdings Inc. On digital infrastructure: “We’ll continue to see a high level of activity in the mid to long term, driven by the strong secular underlying trends, such as the increasing data consumption and the rise of AI. Notably, following the success of Midea’s A-to-H landmark IPO, many high-quality A-share companies are considering listing in Hong Kong.” Peter Bowden, global head of industrial, energy and infrastructure investment banking, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. On energy dealmaking: “While there can be no guarantee that the major integrated companies will remain active in large-scale M&A, that possibility clearly exists. Financing markets remain strong and for many French companies organic growth is just not enough to meet their strategic targets.” Srinivas Balasubramanian, national head, corporate finance, KPMG India On dealmaking in India: “Whilst the IPO pipeline continues to remain vibrant, emerging weak economic indicators such as a high core CPI, liquidity crunch in the banking sector impacting credit offtake and finally a slowing consumption in urban households will have a direct impact on fund flows into our public markets.