UK Public M&A Monthly Activity Update: January 2026

January 2026 Updates:

Our 2026 Global M&A Outlook

We have published our latest annual global M&A report, titled “Hanging out, ‘situationships’ and going official – it’s complicated”.

This time last year we asked whether the M&A market was ready for take off in 2025. The answer? It was complicated. Optimism quickly gave way to uncertainty, and the first half of the year saw many buyers and sellers stuck in ‘situationships’ rather than closing deals.

But resilience returned. As policy direction became clearer, confidence rebuilt, leading to a powerful Q3 surge driven by the US, by strategics and by megadeals. Deal teams again relied on creativity and discipline to bridge valuation gaps, navigate regulatory complexity, and get difficult transactions over the line.

Our Global M&A Outlook 2026 explores what we saw in M&A in 2025 – from early hesitation to late year momentum – and what we expect for the year ahead.

The topics we discuss are:

• Tariffs cause tension – how trade levies and geopolitics are influencing deal terms and reshaping global M&A strategies.
• When deals go sour – economic shifts, regulatory changes and market disruptors like AI are injecting uncertainty and fuelling conflict in transactions.
• AI in M&A – opportunity or risk? From deal inception and valuation to execution, artificial intelligence is reshaping transactions.
• The art of getting the deal done – amid economic and geopolitical uncertainty, dealmakers are leaning on different skillsets to get transactions over the line.
• The activist agenda – activists are accelerating restructurings, divestments and deal activity.

You can read the full report here. To provide more depth to our insights, we will be releasing regional perspectives from our offices around the world in February, followed by sector-specific perspectives in March.

On the Horizon – our podcast on material upcoming developments

We have released a new episode in our ‘on the horizon’ podcast series, in which we discuss the more material developments that we expect to see in the next 6-12 months that will be of interest to listed companies.

You can listen to the podcast here.

Consultation on proposals to improve the merger regime

The government has published a consultation setting out a range of proposals for legislative changes to the merger regime in order to ensure the regime supports the government’s wider agenda for economic growth.

Last year, in response to the government’s strategic steer, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) embarked on a programme of reform, rolling out a series of internal policy measures based on its new ‘4Ps’ framework supporting pace, predictability, proportionality and process (see the post on our Competition Note blog here). The government recognises that the CMA is limited in how far it can go in this regard within the existing legislative framework, and the government has therefore committed to bring forward legislative proposals to refine the UK’s competition regime, building on the CMA’s ‘4Ps’ initiative.

The proposals set out in the consultation include:

• Changes to the CMA's phase 2 decision making process  - The government is proposing to abolish the panel decision-making process for phase 2 investigations and replace it with a new sub-committee of the CMA board that consists of CMA executives, non-executive directors, and a pool of non-CMA experts.
• Providing greater certainty around the share of supply and material influences tests - These jurisdictional thresholds are notoriously broad and vague and can make it difficult for businesses to assess whether their transactions fall within the CMA's jurisdiction.
• Allowing an extension to the timeline for phase 1 merger investigations to agree remedies - The government is proposing to extend the statutory period for the CMA to consider phase 1 remedies, which is currently up to 10 working days, to up to 20 working days. Merging parties would still have to submit their remedy proposals by working day 5, but the CMA would have discretion to grant a 5 working day extension to further develop their proposals where there is a reasonable prospect of resolving issues at phase 1.

The consultation closes on 31 March 2026.

More information on the government’s proposals in the consultation can be found in this post on our Competition Notes blog.