DealLawyers.com Blog

Paul Weiss recently published the November issue of its “M&A at a Glance,” which provides data on M&A transactions during the month of October 2025.  Here are some of the key takeaways:

– In October, total deal values gained in the United States and globally, driven by the announcement of several strategic megadeals. Although deal counts fell by 49% in the United States and 36% globally, total deal values were still up 7% and 22%, respectively. In comparison, sponsor activity was down in the United States and globally by both total deal value and total deal count. Year-over year trends were similar.

– Computers & Electronics was the leading U.S. industry for M&A, topping the charts by deal value and count for October and over the last twelve months (LTM).

– Of U.S. public deals announced in October: Average reverse break fees (RBFs) were 5.4%, slightly lower than the 5.9% LTM average. Both financial and strategic buyer RBFs were slightly below LTM averages. 14% of deals had a go-shop provision (including half of the sponsor deals announced). 8% of deals were hostile or unsolicited, compared to 12% for the LTM.

– John Jenkins