Q3 FY2026 saw a pullback in transaction activity by both volume and value. Despite this moderation, M&A momentum persisted across seven sectors, including Financials, Materials and Healthcare, with roughly a quarter of companies actively exploring opportunistic acquisition opportunities.
Compared with Q3 FY2025, the number of completed Australian transactions declined by around 13% in Q3 FY2026 whilst average deal value declined 12% from the same period. This quarter, 83% of deals were below $100m compared with 73% in Q3 FY2025, indicating a more cautious investment approach.
Larger deals, being those greater than $100m, represented 17% of disclosed transactions this quarter, falling from 27% a year earlier, confirming a clear shift away from larger, higher-risk transactions towards smaller, conservative mid-market deals.
The focus of our analysis in this update is on mid-market transactions, and we have specifically excluded transactions with a gross transaction value greater than $5 billion.
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