As businesses begin to focus more and more on the post-pandemic world there is a renewed focus on M&A.

Buyers are very much back in the market. Many acquisitive corporates never really left the market, apart from pausing during Q2 and Q3 of 2020 to take stock of the impact of COVID on their businesses and their markets. They now see accelerating deal rates as their best option for restoring profit growth given that organic is likely to remain challenging.PE Funds still have eye-watering levels of “dry-powder” which they are under pressure to deploy through both new platform acquisitions and bolt-ons to existing portfolio businesses.

For all types of buyers, strategic investment decisions are being made with an eye beyond growth in revenue, margin, or market share. The COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession have served to accelerate structural business changes that have been evolving across the global market. Supply chain resilience, distributed workforce optimization, digitisation, skillset realignment, AI-infused business processes, and corporate end-to-end sustainability are a few of the areas where corporations are revamping operations and portfolio to meet the 21st century economy. Companies’ fundamental realignment of investment focus will likely remain through 2025.