Ecosystem architects vs Core consolidators

In the rapidly evolving global landscape of 2025, the rules of M&A have transformed. Competitive threats are no longer just the familiar rivals but also emerging players from unexpected sectors. The deal agenda is increasingly driven by the need to secure the new capabilities needed to build and navigate complex ecosystems and foster collaboration.

Set against this complexity and volatility, simply ranking deal activity by sector size offers little insight into which sectors are truly 'hot' for M&A-driven growth, as the different size of each sector as part of the global economy means that simple ranking by size does not tend to change over time.

Our sector heatmap analysis emphasizes how deal activity evolves over time — both by acquirers operating within each sector and by targets acquired within each sector — to reveal shifts in sectors’ relative importance and spotlighting emerging cross-sector M&A trends. This approach produces a dynamic league table of sector dealmaking activity, illustrating the relative importance of dealmaking by sector before, during, and after the pandemic.

The table shows the heatmap ranking for each sector from hottest (1) to coolest (12) in H1 2025, together with historical rankings for the previous 5 years stretching back to 2019.

Businesses in different sectors are using M&A selectively — either to consolidate their core business, to expand internationally or to transform and extend their business models — with the dominant approach varying significantly by sector, driven by deals that are closely aligned with strategic imperatives including digital transformation, geopolitical shifts, and sector convergence:

• Business Services, Industrials and Media sector acquirers are focussing the largest portion of M&A investment on acquiring new capabilities through cross-sector acquisitions.
• Meanwhile, Finance, Telecoms, Healthcare, and Energy & Power sector acquirers are focussing 80% or more of their acquisition spend on targets in the same sector, and predominantly in their home countries.
• And Materials sector and Retail sector acquirers are investing nearly half of their acquisition dollars in international expansion – securing their positions in new markets and complex supply chains in a volatile world.

This multidimensional approach to deal-making reflects the complex challenges leaders face in positioning their organizations for sustainable success in an era of continuous disruption. It demands a new M&A playbook, one that embraces both defensive and offensive strategies to thrive in this dynamic environment — to build a capability for either kind of deal — to consolidate core activities, or to embrace transformational change, to integrate M&A as an embedded part of the strategic planning cycle, and to excel in value creation from effective, and rapid, business combination and resulting transformation.

The M&A landscape is no longer about merely expanding within existing markets. It's about evolving into a new entity that can navigate and thrive amidst disruption. Firms that succeed will be those that build agile M&A capabilities, embed acquisition thinking at every level, and approach value creation with the rigor of a private equity firm. The alternative is to risk becoming a target for activist investors or for acquisition. 

For a deep dive into our analysis, read the following report.