By Sabrina Valle
NEW YORK, Dec 3 (Reuters) – The “fertile” conditions that will drive trading in 2025 will persist through the end of the year and into next year, as CEOs seek scale and private equity firms shed obsolete assets, according to Michal Katz, head of corporate and investment banking at Mizuho Americas.
This year was dominated by megadeals worth more than $10 billion, doubling year-over-year to $1.3 trillion as of Tuesday, according to data compiled by Dealogic. That included an $85 billion railroad transaction, a $40 billion data center deal and the largest leveraged buyout ever: a $55 billion private takeover of Electronic Arts, Katz said at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York on Wednesday.
He cited pent-up demand for mergers and acquisitions and CEOs’ desire to “future-proof their companies” as artificial intelligence revolutionizes old business models.
“Companies want to lean into some of those multi-year, multi-decade secular investments, so we’re talking a lot to clients today about how to prepare for 2026,” he said.
That disruption will also lead to more mid-size transactions under $10 billion, he said, supporting greater M&A activity for private equity firms.
Katz also highlighted record levels of shareholder activism in 2025, with investors pushing companies toward event-driven exits, and noted that while artificial intelligence and technology dominated returns in the S&P 500, healthcare has recently emerged as an active sector. Deals such as Pfizer’s acquisition of Metsera, Abbott Labs’ purchase of Exact Sciences, and Thermo Fisher and Novartis activity point to an expansion of M&A beyond technology.
Katz noted that recent tensions in private credit markets, including high-profile bankruptcies, have led lenders and investors to tighten regulations. While he described these issues as “idiosyncratic and not systemic,” he said they are driving greater scrutiny of documentation and transparency.
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(Reporting by Sabrina ValleEditing by Dawn Kopecki and Rod Nickel)