The following is a guest post from J. Neely, a senior managing director and global transaction advisory lead at Accenture. Opinions are the author’s own.
We are entering 2026 against a new backdrop for M&A. While financing conditions are stabilizing and becoming more predictable, geopolitical volatility and trade policy are increasing in complexity for dealmakers.
Yet, there are signs of optimism and a coming reconfiguration of the market for the year ahead. Private equity alone is still holding over $2.5 trillion in dry powder, and data from S&P Cap IQ revealed that M&A transaction value reached $3.1 trillion for the first 10 months of 2025, with deals increasing to an average of $82.2 million.
Divestitures, for example, grew 31% in the first three quarters of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to S&P Capital IQ data. Even though the V-shaped bounce so many predicted hasn’t come to fruition, there’s a case to be made for increased activity and a pathway to reset businesses. Increased clarity in how to operate in the current market can help companies look to effectively position themselves for the future, including readjusting of portfolios.
Strategically breaking up large, diversified companies can help reduce complexity and ultimately generate higher valuation multiples. And with a rise in activist investors as well – four in 10 companies in the S&P 500 have been targeted by an activist at least once in the last 15 years, according to Accenture research – there’s increased pressure for companies to deliver on their value thesis.
On the other hand, as companies get more comfortable navigating the regulatory environment, there may also be an opportunity to pursue large-scale deals that can demonstrate clear economic and consumer benefits. As is often the case, greater predictability and clarity can spark movement as we see businesses plan to increase capital expenditures in the next six months in the U.S., according to our macroeconomic analysis, signaling a greater rebound in confidence.
Capital expenditures in AI are a large part of that growth. As AI-related companies account for nearly two-thirds (64%) of all venture deals in the U.S. for the first three quarters of 2025, according to Pitchbook data, dealmakers need to also ask themselves how AI will change M&A itself.
AI moving from pilot to value accelerator
I remember attending an event with other M&A professionals 18 months ago and first talking about the role of generative AI in M&A. At the time, the response was more muted, with people largely unaware of what was to come. Fast forward to when we met again this fall, and every one of those same people was exchanging information about their own AI use cases.
Our data surveying dealmakers show a similar movement. Broadly speaking, the average level of generative AI adoption for dealmaking is nearly a third (30%) this year, compared to a fourth (24%) a year prior. And eight in 10 dealmakers (82%) have told us that AI and advanced analytics are already accelerating their pre-deal insights.
However, the vast majority are not using generative AI across all the stages of their deal lifecycle. The select few that do are four times more likely to report that they consistently capture post-acquisition value. And this is all as leading companies just start to move beyond pilots, and before the adoption of agentic AI will change the game for M&A professionals in 2026 and beyond.
By helping model market scenarios, identify acquisition targets and even simulate integration pathways based on real-time data, AI agents will enable teams to go beyond automation and better extract risk clauses in their due diligence. It can also help reduce efforts on deals that have a lower chance of closing, so that teams are freed up to be deployed towards deals with the strongest value creation plans. But the greatest value potential could be post-close, not just leading to faster integration but also increasing innovation by redesigning the organization with agentic AI in mind and creating greater value as a result.
Yet, only 31% of dealmakers report their current approach to technology adoption — whether to build, buy or partner — is highly effective, providing an opportunity for M&A professionals. Will they develop solutions with an external vendor, as 40% prefer to do now for ease of integration and maintaining know-how? Or will they mirror their counterparts in private equity, where nearly all (92%) prefer to buy intelligence solutions as a service in hopes of moving more quickly?
What we do know is that consistently high-performing firms will embed advanced technologies — including AI — their teams and their ecosystem partners into the core of their dealmaking strategy and execution. In turn, they can remake every deal into insight and experience for the next.
Five ways to effectively execute for 2026
With an M&A market poised for steady activity in 2026, leaders need to ready themselves and their organizations for AI – and in particular agentic solutions – to move the needle by:
1. Embedding technology across the deal lifecycle. M&A professionals are already well aware of generating pre-deal insights with AI. But don’t let your AI advantage stop at deal closure. We anticipate and encourage more dealmakers to use AI through integration.
2. Bringing agentic AI into the mix from the start. During diligence and planning, use AI agents to analyze both companies’ processes, identify redundancies and design optimized future-state operations. Start with no-regret moves and quick wins before full deployment to refine their impact and build organizational confidence.
3. Treating integration as an opportunity to innovate. Deploy autonomous AI agents to redesign core workflows like procure-to-pay, enabling you to leapfrog to best-in-class operations and drive innovation rather than simply merging legacy systems.
4. Leveraging agentic AI for revenue growth. Companies with AI-led intelligent operations achieve 2.5 times higher revenue growth and 2.4 times greater productivity compared to peers. Beyond using agentic AI to optimize back-office processes (procurement, payment) for cost savings, also enhance go-to-market capabilities like pricing optimization to drive increased revenue.
5. Bringing people along and investing in their AI learning. Ensure your deal teams have hands-on training with agentic AI tools, standardize and centralize deal data to unlock smarter insights and embed AI into core activities like screening, diligence and value creation planning. This foundation enables more effective AI deployment at scale.
In 2026, leaders will need to move decisively and with clarity to capture value. With a better market than we’ve seen in the past few years, dealmakers must become comfortable with complexity, ensure their portfolios are strategically aligned for the future and accelerate their AI adoption.
Success will hinge on embedding technology into every stage of the deal lifecycle, rethinking integration as a catalyst for innovation and aligning talent with new digital capabilities. In this environment, firms that combine strategic agility with intelligent operations will redefine how we capture value in the next era of M&A.
