Mergers & Acquisitions: Legal Insights, Trends & Key Developments

Your Guide to Australia’s M&A Market

Our annual M&A Review highlights the key trends, challenges and opportunities shaping Australia’s dealmaking landscape, and provides an analysis of transaction activity across major sectors including:

The report aims to highlight the regulatory and economic developments most likely to impact businesses and investors. Whether you are planning an acquisition, preparing for divestment or navigating foreign investment approval, our review provides practical legal insights to help you approach the next transaction with confidence.

Key Highlights

ACCC merger reform prompts a wave of transactions – many transactions are being fast-tracked to complete before 1 January 2026, avoiding stricter reviews, notifications, and penalties.
Schemes of arrangement continue to dominate Australian M&A – used for large, complex, or foreign-led deals due to certainty, lower thresholds, and ability to embed regulatory conditions.
Foreign investment approvals remain a hurdle – heightened FIRB scrutiny on national security and sensitive assets prompt investors to adopt restructuring strategies, extend deal timelines, and incorporate conditional terms to manage approval risks.
Investor caution persists amid global and domestic uncertainty – mixed signals from US markets, geopolitical tensions, and macroeconomic volatility are prompting selective dealmaking and longer timetables.
Preparation upfront drives deal success – engaging regulators early and structuring transactions to address increased tax compliance burdens, changing tax computations, and governance issues is now critical.

Explore our executive summary for additional context on these highlights.