Global M&A value climbed 41% year over year to $2.4 trillion in the first five months of 2026, putting the market on pace for its second-highest year on record, according to Bain & Company’s midyear M&A report. The increase follows a 40% rise to $4.9 trillion in 2025. Strategic deal value grew 36%, while venture and corporate venture capital deal value surged 206%, fueled in part by OpenAI’s $122 billion funding round.
Bain found that megadeals worth more than $10 billion increased 52% in number and 53% in value. Stock-and-cash transactions accounted for a record 35% of the funding mix for those deals, as companies pursued greater scale and new capabilities amid AI investment, slower economic growth, inflation, and geopolitical disruption. Major transactions included the proposed $119 billion merger of NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy, along with large European bids involving UniCredit, Kone, and Orange.
The report argues that acquirers now face what Bain calls a “winner’s paradox”: completing a major corporate integration while pursuing a multiyear AI transformation. Deals valued above $10 billion take about seven months to close, followed by another 24 to 36 months to realize most run-rate cost savings. Bain says companies therefore need capital plans that account for both acquisition-led growth and investments in AI-enabled workflow redesign.
AI may also help companies move faster once a transaction is underway. Bain found that leading integration programs are using the technology to identify and confirm cost-synergy opportunities two to three times faster than traditional outside-in diligence suggested.
“The companies that win will treat a transaction as the moment to accelerate their AI ambitions,” said Suzanne Kumar, Executive Vice President of Bain & Company’s Global M&A Practice.