Dealmakers are heading into 2027 cautiously optimistic, according to Ansarada’s 2027 M&A Predictions Report, which gathered views from 23 dealmakers across seven regions. Of those contributors, 15 expect M&A activity to pick up next year, though only five are making an outright call for growth. The other ten are expecting something more modest or qualified.
“Every dealmaker I’ve spoken to this year is carrying more than they were 12 months ago,” says Justin Smith, Managing Director at Ansarada. “Processes that once took six months now take nine. Diligence goes deeper, and buyers ask more questions before they commit.”
Deals are taking longer, almost everywhere
Ten of the 23 contributors specifically flagged deals taking longer to close. In Belgium, transactions reportedly take two to three months longer than they used to. In Vietnam, one contributor said processes that once took nine to 12 months now run to 14 or 15. In Australia, deals that used to take around six months now take about nine.
Not everyone agrees timing is the real story. “The thesis is deals aren’t taking longer, they are getting more and more complex in Germany,” says Alexander Manus of Sigma Corporate Finance.
Where deal size is heading
There’s a regional split on deal size. Five of the nine Asia-Pacific contributors expect the mid-market to hold up or lead activity into 2027, while in the UK and US, four of six contributors expect fewer, larger deals instead.
Australia’s two contributors fit the broader Asia-Pacific pattern. Damien Elias, CEO of Grant Samuel, expects the Australian mid-market to hold steady, supported by private equity capital on both the buy and sell side, with a pickup in large public-market deals as boards accept lower share prices as the new normal. Siobhán Syrrou, Partner at PwC Australia, expects the private equity backlog to flow mainly into mid-market and large mid-market activity, and predicts the valuation gap between the strongest businesses and the rest will widen further.
Capital gains tax changes are shaping succession planning
Capital gains tax changes came up specifically in Australia, Belgium and the UK. Syrrou says Australia’s changes, taking effect 1 July 2027, could sharpen the focus on succession for private business owners, giving them another reason to reassess their business’s value and the timing of any sale. Elias takes a stronger view, describing the proposed changes as a material risk to entrepreneurship and capital investment. For owners of businesses worth more than $100 million, he says the tax difference between Australia and New Zealand can run into tens of millions of dollars, though this specific comparison applies to a scale well beyond most SMEs.
AI is already part of deal work, but trust is conditional
Nineteen of the 23 contributors say they’re already using AI in deal work, and 22 say its output still needs checking or experienced human judgement before it can be relied on. Nine specifically say buyers are now asking for evidence that AI has actually improved the business they’re looking at.
Both Australian contributors think AI is reshaping what clients value in an adviser. “You’re going to see the growth of the mid-market independents,” Elias says. “People will be increasingly valuing genuine insight and commercial intellect because a lot of the other aspects of advisory work are being commoditised away by AI.” Syrrou frames it similarly: “AI is very good at saying more with more. The real value is increasingly in saying more with less.”
Smith’s closing take is more about posture than prediction. “The dealmakers who win in 2027 won’t be the ones waiting for conditions to improve. They’ll be the ones who have already decided to go all in.”