February 12 2026 | Deals | M&A Advisors | Professional Services
After starting 2025 with optimism that was temporarily dampened by Trump administration tariff announcements, Australia's M&A market is demonstrating resilience and renewed momentum.
In our 2026 Global M&A Predictions Report , Andy Cloke, Partner at PwC Australia and head of the firm's private market transactions team in NSW, provides insights into how major transactions – from Scape's $3.85 billion Aveo acquisition to the proposed $30 billion Santos takeover – signal positive indicators for the year ahead.
With his expertise spanning real estate and private markets, Cloke reveals how unprecedented levels of private equity capital, combined with years of delayed exits, are creating the perfect conditions for a transaction surge across health, technology, industrial, and real estate sectors.
Here’s the full interview
2025 started with a high degree of optimism for M&A activity with likely monetary policy easing and available equity and debt, however the announcement of the Trump tariffs created a level of uncertainty which is never great for dealmakers, and this slowed M&A activity a little.
Although geopolitical uncertainty remains there has been an uptick in transaction activity and that positive momentum is expected to continue into 2026, according to Andy Cloke, Partner, PwC Australia and head of the firm's private market transactions team in NSW and Real Estate transaction lead.
"There have been some sizeable deals recently in Australia. Scape's $3.85 billion purchase of Aveo, Australia's second largest retirement village operator, Wisetech Global $3.2 billion acquisition of E2open and the $30 billion proposed takeover of Santos are positive indicators for future M&A activity for the rest of 2025 and into 2026," Cloke says.
"Corporate Boards continue to use an M&A mandate as a means to build and or transform businesses and grow inorganically as well as make transformational changes. At the same time Corporates continue to review and optimise their businesses which will continue the trend in the divestment of non-core assets."
Private equity firms are sitting on historic levels of dry powder, domestic funds continue to raise more funds across the course of the year, overseas funds are looking to be more active in the Australian market which along with the significant inter-generational transfer of wealth will drive M&A activity in Australia, Cloke predicts.
"There are a large number of private equity pent-up exits that haven't happened for a number of years and would expect to see more secondary trades along with continuation funds in 2025/2026," he says.
Deal processes are generally taking longer to complete as buyers are becoming more discerning and taking longer in due diligence to cover off on all risks and negotiate transaction documents.
"The weak dollar bodes well for foreign investors and we have seen more cross border in-bound transaction activity which is likely to continue with the Australian dollar expected to remain at similar weak levels," Cloke says.
Sectors with strong tailwinds such as health, technology and industrials have seen strong deals activity. The real estate sector has also seen activity mainly in the alternative asset classes, after a few years of muted transaction levels, given the interest rate cycle and declining valuations.
In the living and adjacent real estate sectors, the shortage of housing in Australia and ageing thematic as baby boomers' transition into the later stages of retirement and require appropriate housing product are driving institutional investor activity.
Companies are increasingly turning to AI platforms and programs to improve the efficiency of their operations and adopting AI for knowledge management as well as optimise aspects of the resource intensive M&A process. This is a trend that will continue to accelerate in 2026.
"People will become more comfortable using the tools and as technology continues to evolve and advance with more user cases identified AI will play an increasing part in M&A. At PwC we are rolling out a huge amount of AI training, in anticipation of it playing a much bigger part in our day-to-day activities. Moving forward, it will be integral to all aspects of the M&A process, from target identification, valuation, due diligence through to deal execution."
Looking ahead
As Australia's M&A market enters a period of sustained activity, the convergence of private equity capital deployment needs, corporate portfolio optimisation, and technological advancement through AI is creating a dynamic environment for dealmakers.
The weak Australian dollar provides an additional tailwind for foreign investors, while domestic opportunities in aging demographics and housing shortages offer long-term structural growth themes. For sellers with quality assets and buyers with patient capital, 2026 presents a compelling window of opportunity.
