M&A in 2026 is being driven by better financing conditions, more active private equity firms, and a wider mix of sectors doing deals. Debt markets have reopened after the tight environment of 2023–2024, making it easier for buyers and sellers to agree on valuations. Private equity funds, under pressure to deploy capital and exit older investments, are helping push more deals through.
Ireland’s mergers and acquisitions market delivered a robust performance in 2025, defying broader global trends and reinforcing our reputation as a resilient, innovation-led deal environment. While international M&A volumes softened over the year, Ireland charted its own course, supported by sustained international investor interest, active strategic buyers and a gradually reawakening private equity market.
Looking ahead, advisers are cautiously optimistic that conditions in 2026 will support further growth. She believes improving financing markets and renewed private equity momentum are key drivers.
She adds that sentiment across the mid-market is improving, albeit with appropriate caution.
Sectorally, activity is evolving in line with structural economic shifts. She notes that deal flow is clustering around future-focused and resilient segments.
There is more activity in sectors linked to AI, automation, energy transition, and resilient B2B services. Consolidation is a key feature of the Irish market with private equity roll-ups across financial services, healthcare and engineering businesses. Deals increasingly use earnouts and other flexible structures to bridge valuation gaps or manage regulatory uncertainty. These changes reflect shifting consumer expectations, stricter regulation, and a focus on technology-enabled business models.
Overall, the midmarket M&A outlook for 2026 is cautiously optimistic given the availability of private equity, the stabilising of interest rates and the opportunity to for market consolidation. We are seeing quite a lot of business owners that had deferred their exit over the last few years, now coming to market. Ireland remains attractive for international buyers, however, companies need to be fully prepared for thorough due diligence processes and vendors need to engage early with their advisors in order to be ‘exit ready’ and optimise shareholder value.
The reopening of debt markets is particularly significant. During 2023 and early 2024, valuation gaps between buyers and sellers, coupled with constrained financing, led to deferred processes and stalled transactions. As capital becomes more accessible and interest rates stabilise, those postponed exits are returning to the pipeline, increasing both supply and competitive tension.
The decision to bring in equity is usually determined by three factors: growth potential of the company (which will typically involve in part growth by acquisition), capability of management team to deliver on that growth and the existing shareholders plan to crystallise value. Cultural fit is also really important to consider at outset especially in entrepreneurial businesses that are not used to reporting to external shareholders. By meeting with potential equity partners very early in the process you can get a better understanding on the cultural / strategic fit and we always recommend that companies make contact with ‘references’ (investee portfolio companies) provided by private equity funds.
The future, therefore, is optimistic; while global markets wrestled with volatility and value distortions driven by megadeals, in 2025, Ireland’s M&A landscape demonstrated depth, diversity and durability. With financing conditions improving, private equity capital under pressure to deploy and a pipeline of deferred exits coming to market, 2026 is shaping up as a year of opportunity, provided that vendors are prepared and buyers remain disciplined.