Germany

The M&A state of play

German M&A returned with force in the first half of 2026, but the headline is value rather than volume. There were 998 deals involving German targets, worth €94.1 billion in aggregate. Deal count was up about 1.5% from the first half of 2025, which recorded 983 deals, while aggregate value rose about 130% from €40.8 billion. Compared with the second half of 2025, aggregate value increased about 38% despite approximately 5% fewer deals.

Industrials set the pace with €47.2 billion across 267 deals, followed by technology (€17.57 billion across 189 deals) and energy & natural resources (€11.74 billion across 49 deals).

Private capital continued to drive activity, with sponsor-backed deals accounting for a significant share of the market. Beyond scale, carve-outs and complex deal structures are increasingly defining the landscape as parties look to move quickly while navigating regulatory and operational separation.

2026's market-defining transactions

The first half of 2026 produced a concentrated set of high-value transactions.

Kone Oyj’s €20.2 billion acquisition of TK Elevator GmbH was the standout deal, followed by Uber Technologies’ €9.6 billion acquisition of Delivery Hero SE and UniCredit’s €7.7 billion move for Commerzbank AG. KfW’s €7.6 billion acquisition of TenneT TSO GmbH and Bain Capital’s €7.4 billion acquisition of Everllence SE further underline the weight of industrial and infrastructure assets.

Healthcare, energy and sponsor-led industrial transactions also featured prominently, including Gilead Sciences’ €4.3 billion acquisition of Tubulis GmbH and Triton Partners’ €3.0 billion acquisition of Flender GmbH.

The top 10 publicly disclosed transactions involving German targets in the first half of 2026 are set out below.

Source: Mergermarket

Carve-outs reshaping the market

Divestments accounted for more than 80% of German deal value in the first half of 2026, up from around two-thirds a year earlier. Carve-outs are also increasingly being executed after signing rather than completed before the purchase agreement is signed. In a competitive auction, sellers may not have time to build a fully standalone business before bids are submitted; buyers, meanwhile, want to secure the asset early and shape the perimeter around their operating model. The signing-to-closing period is therefore becoming an execution window, allowing the parties to progress operational, legal and tax separation while regulatory conditions are being pursued.

Private capital continued to play a prominent role in German M&A throughout the period. In the first half of 2026, sponsor-backed transactions accounted for approximately 31% of all deals, with 261 sponsor entries and 48 sponsor exits recorded. This broadly maintained the elevated levels seen in the second half of 2025, when sponsor entries reached a two-year high of 303. While overall deal count dipped slightly in the first half of 2026, sponsors remained active across industrials, technology and healthcare, reinforcing private equity's position as a structural driver of German dealmaking, and of the carve-out activity that increasingly defines it.

Regulatory environment

Regulatory clearance is increasingly shaping the transaction timetable. An in-depth FDI review under Germany’s Foreign Trade and Payments Act can take more than five months. The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation adds a further review layer for in-scope transactions, while intensified merger control scrutiny can extend interim periods and long-stop dates. Parties should consider building these timelines into deal planning and use the intervening period to advance separation work without compromising gun-jumping or other competition-law safeguards.

The practical impact of these overlapping regimes could be significant. FDI screening, merger control filings and FSR notifications may run concurrently but on different clocks, each with its own information requests, review phases and conditions. For cross-border transactions, which account for a substantial share of German deal flow, multi-jurisdictional filings compound the complexity, as illustrated by recent transactions such as Kone's acquisition of TK Elevator (which triggered China SAMR scrutiny alongside EU review) and Worthington Steel's takeover of Kloeckner & Co (which required clearances from German, Austrian, Slovak, Mexican and EU authorities, including under the FSR). Early engagement with regulators, realistic long-stop dates and flexibility in the purchase agreement to accommodate extended review periods are becoming essential features of well-structured German transactions.

Outlook

Germany’s M&A market is likely to remain active, but execution will increasingly distinguish successful deals from merely attractive ones. Longer regulatory timelines, competitive auctions and complex carve-outs favour parties that agree the perimeter early, mobilise integrated teams at signing and treat the interim period as a period for disciplined delivery rather than delay.