Cross-border mid-market M&A compass-rapport 2025
PE and AI are now key driving forces in cross-border acquisitions
By Kerstin Fehre
Professor of Strategy
Wanlin Hu
Doctoral Researcher, Entrepreneurship
After several years of volatility, global M&A activity is regaining momentum – and cross-border deals are leading the recovery. As organisations adapt to geopolitical uncertainty, technological disruption and shifting growth expectations, international acquisitions provide a key route to expansion.
In this landscape, the mid-market has emerged as a particularly resilient segment. It’s playing a central role in shaping the global deal environment, providing a vehicle for capability-building and long-term growth. Indeed, 2025 saw an acceleration in cross-border activity, with investors – increasingly including private capital – focussing on technology and AI.
On behalf of Moore Global Corporate Finance, Vlerick has analysed more than 41,000 completed-confirmed deals in 2025, benchmarking the findings against data from 2019-2024.
The results are set out in the latest edition of The Moore Global Cross-border Mid-market M&A Compass, which examines activity across this important segment of the M&A market, with a particular focus on cross-border transactions between €10m and €200m.
The main findings of the research were:
- A total of 41,010 M&A deals were completed in 2025 – representing a 12.5% increase on 2024
- Cross-border dealmaking led the recovery, with transaction volumes rising by about 18%, compared with 11% growth in domestic deals
- A total of 4,143 cross-border, mid-market deals were completed in 2025, representing a 16.7% increase on 2024
- The total value of cross-border, mid-market deals reached €197bn – an increase of almost 10% compared with 2024
- Cross-border transactions accounted for 39% of all mid-market M&A – up from 33% in 2024
- IT and healthcare remained the most active sectors, together accounting for more than half of cross-border, mid-market deal activity
John Cowie, Chairman of Moore Global Corporate Finance, said: “Despite global macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitical unrest, the volume of deals completed in 2025 hit a five-year peak. The results reinforce our belief that mid-market corporates cannot rely on organic growth alone if they want to compete on the global stage – they need to have a cross-border M&A strategy sitting alongside business as usual.”
Kerstin Fehre, Professor of Strategy at Vlerick, added: “The cross-border mid-market segment is an essential component of the total M&A market. In the face of a challenging economic situation, it was more stable in terms of average deal values than other parts of the market.”
A market driven by strategy and technology
The report shows that while the biggest deals tend to grab the headlines, it’s mid-market transactions that make up the majority of global M&A activity. And what’s driving them is increasingly strategic – with more than 70% of deals motivated by companies wanting to scale up, access specialist talent and technology, and enter new markets.
The findings also reveal that private equity and venture capital investors are becoming more active and showing strong interest in fast-growing, innovation-led businesses. North American acquirers continued to lead on AI and IT deals, highlighting the region’s strength in global tech investment.
North America and Europe remain at the centre of cross-border, mid-market activity, although regulation and market familiarity mean that many deals still happen in the same continent. And while geopolitical uncertainty has the potential to slow things down in the short term, the need to access new capabilities and markets could mean that cross-border dealmaking plays an ever-more important role.
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