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Q1 2026 Mid-market M&A: the market is moving but the bar is high
Q1 2026 confirmed a clear shift in mid-market M&A: activity is there, but execution is everything.
In Q1, our IMAP partners globally closed 58 transactions worth more than $4 billion, with nearly half involving cross-border activity and ranking #4 globally by number of closed transactions in the league table.
Across sectors and geographies, the theme is clear, the market remains active but more selective:
strong assets are getting attention
buyers are disciplined
valuations are tighter
execution matters more than ever
Activity was concentrated in Industrials (15%), Transport & Logistics (13%), Business Services (13%) and Food & Beverage (10%) with additional deals flow across healthcare, technology, consumer, energy and other core mid-market sectors.
For Ireland, the latest Renatus Q1 2026 data recorded 136 deals, with Irish-on Irish transactions up 49% to 58, while private equity activity and the international share both eased from the prior year.
"What we're seeing on the ground in Ireland is a market where good businesses, properly prepared, can still achieve strong outcomes. The market and buyers have been 'risk on' and have worked around a lot of the market volatility over the last few years. While we're yet to see the impact, any energy intensive businesses will undoubtedly be affected by rising fuel costs which may affect valuations rather than deal flow."Colin Morgan, CEO at Key Capital
This will be a focus of conversation as we welcome over 100 senior IMAP dealmakers to Dublin this weekend (April 16th-18th, 2026) for our bi-annual M&A conference.
Key Capital is the exclusive Irish member firm of IMAP, an International Mergers and Acquisitions Partnership of more than 450 M&A professionals in 51 countries. IMAP has closed over 2,200 transactions valued at $130bn in the last 10 years and is consistently ranked in the world’s Top 10 M&A advisors (Refinitiv) for mid-market transactions.
Contact Us
For further information about how Key Capital Corporate Finance can help your business, please email us or call Colin Morgan in confidence.
Phone: +353 1 638 3838