Q3/25 was the busiest of the year for M&A transactions valued at $10 billion or more worldwide, according to S&P analysts. The transaction value of $10 billion-plus M&A deals announced during Q3/25 totaled $289.48 billion for the highest value since Q2/22, according to latest S&P Global Market Intelligence data and analysis.
Key highlights from the analysis include:
- There were 10 M&A announcements of more than $10 billion in transaction value in Q3/25, including four such deals in September.
- Three of the September deals landed among the largest announced in the past 12 months.
- California-based video game company Electronic Arts is the target of a leveraged buyout by an investor group with a transaction value of $55.18 billion, the third-largest announced transaction of the past 12 months.
- In another transaction led by an investor group, Sumitomo, SMBC Aviation Capital, Apollo Capital Management and Brookfield Asset Management announced an acquisition of Air Lease in a deal with a transaction value of $28.22 billion. This transaction is the ninth-largest M&A announcement of the past 12 months.
- In a $24.28 billion metals and mining deal, Canada-based Anglo American and UK-based Teck Resources announced a merger of equals on Sept. 8. The deal is the largest mining combination in more than a decade, since the $29.9 billion acquisition of Xstrata in 2013 by Glencore PLC, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. The deal is also among the 10 largest announced transactions of the past 12 months.

