Seasonal M&A Review / Autumn 2026

Seasonal M&A Review / Autumn 2026

Seasonal M&A review - Autumn 2026

Alinea’s quarterly M&A update - Q3 2026

Our quarterly look at UK M&A activity, built with data from our partner MarktoMarket. It covers how many deals were done, who was buying and what they paid - useful context if you are thinking about selling, buying or growing a business.

Volumes & Trends

• Deal activity recorded 1,414 transactions in Q3 2026. As with every fresh quarter, this will rise as further deals are filed (Q2 2026 has been revised up from 1,460 to 1,639 since our last update). Compared on the same first-count basis, Q3 is about 3% below Q2

• Deals up to £50m made up 61% of disclosed Q3 deals (142 of 231), in line with Q2. The lower mid-market is still where most deals are done

Key Market Features

• Trade buyers made 69% of acquisitions in Q3 2026. Private equity (PE) and PE-backed buyers made 31%, and PE funds buying directly reached 11% of deals - their highest share in the three years covered by the data

• UK buyers made 78% of acquisitions, their lowest share in three years. EU buyers rose to 10%, from 8% in Q2, their highest share over the same period

• TMT (8.9x) and Property (7.5x) had the highest EBITDA multiples over the last twelve months, both a little below their three-year averages (9.6x and 7.8x)

If you are weighing up a sale, an acquisition or a growth plan, we are happy to talk through what this quarter’s numbers mean for your sector and deal size.

Source: MarktoMarket quarterly data, as reported up to September 2026, UK deals. Figures for recent quarters are provisional and revise as deals are filed.

Alinea / Seasonal M&A review - Autumn 2026

UK M&A deal and stats tracker

Last 4 reported quarters - Q4-25 to Q3-26

Quarter

Deals this quarter

Total deals, last 4 quartersQ4-25 to Q3-26

PE and PE-backed share

Blended EV/EBITDA (LTM)Deals under £100m, simple average across sectors

11.0% Deals by PE funds directly, Q3-26

The highest share in the three years of data (Q4-23 to Q3-26). PE and PE-backed buyers together made 31% of deals.

21.7% Non-UK buyers, Q3-26

The highest share in three years. EU buyers reached 10.0% of deals, up from 7.6% in Q2-26.

14.4% Property share of deals, Q3-26

Up every quarter for a year, from 11.2% in Q3-25. Property also has the second highest multiple, at 7.5x.

Deal volume by quarter

UK M&A completions

The latest quarter is undercounted at the time of reporting. Q2-26 was first reported at 1,460 and now stands at 1,639.

Sector mix -

Share of deals by sector, estimated where sector was undisclosed

Buyer geography -

All deals, by acquirer origin

Deal size -

Enterprise value bands, as % of deals with a disclosed value ()

EV/EBITDA multiples by sector

Last twelve months (LTM) against three-year average. Deals under £100m with a UK company as target or acquirer

Buyer type by quarter

Trade against private equity (PE) and PE-backed acquirers

Source: MarktoMarket quarterly data (as reported Oct-26) and Alinea analysis - UK deals. The most recent quarter is typically undercounted at the time of reporting and revised upward as deals are filed. Multiples exclude outliers below 0.1x and above 50x.

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