Despite a protracted political crisis around the budget and the French deficit, the year 2025 was also that of very ambitious announcements at the level of large companies. In total, the amount of operations announced in France in 2025 should be around 91 billion eurosaccording to an estimate from Bain & Company, which would mean growth of 12% in one year.
Certainly, “we are in a complicated situation”, reminds AFP Emmanuel Goldstein, general manager of the French subsidiary of the Morgan Stanley bankvery influential in the sector. But “companies do not necessarily postpone their operations”, especially if they are “strategic”, he notes, as was the sale by Kering (parent company of Gucci) of its beauty division to L’Oréal for 4 billion euros.
Other megamergers announced this year in France, that of European satellites between Airbus, Thales and Leonardo or the joint offer of 17 billion euros for the takeover of the telecom operator SFR. “It’s not a shot like in 2021, but it’s working,” comments Emmanuel Goldstein.
“Many French companies have found a healthy balance sheet and are buying”, also analyzes Arnaud Leroi, of Bain & Company.
Overseas investments
The political crisis would not, however, be without consequences. According to several experts in merger and acquisition operations, the unpredictability of the executive deters certain companies from investing in highly regulated sectors (such as energy or medical), whose profitability could be threatened by unfavorable legislative developments.
Furthermore, there is a “risk reduction movement” of French companies “towards abroad”, that is to say through the acquisition of stakes in companies outside France, observes Arnaud Leroi. Thus, at the end of November, French companies announced acquisitions of around 78 billion euros of foreign companies, compared to 41 billion euros for the acquisition of French companiesaccording to figures from Bain & Company.
And conversely, merger and acquisition operations initiated by foreign investors targeting French companies represented around 16 billion euros. “The attractiveness” of French companies for foreign investors “has not improved,” Arnaud Leroi modestly acknowledges.
37% growth
Globally, 2025 was also a good year for mergers and acquisitions.
Certainly, the year has had a roller coaster ride. “The rebound at the start of the year was stopped dead by the announcement of American customs duties in the spring,” observes Céline Méchain at Goldman Sachsanother very important bank in the sector. But the restart from this summer was very conclusive, so much so that the total volume of mergers and acquisitions operations announced ($4,254 billion) at the end of November is 36% higher than that of 2024, according to the American bank.
With the two giant offers for Warner Bros at the end of the year, interest was primarily focused on the media and technology sector (21% of operations according to Goldman Sachs). This is also evidenced by the purchase of the American video game publisher Electronic Arts (EA) by a consortium of investment funds for $55 billion or SoftBank’s $30 billion investment in OpenAI.
The infrastructure and industry sectors (20% of operations) are hot on its heels, with notably, in American rail freight, the attempted takeover of Norfolk Southern by its competitor Union Pacific for $85 billion.
As for the year 2026, at the global level, it could mark a new growth in merger and acquisition operations, “as long as central banks continue to lower their interest rates” in order to facilitate financing, judges Arnaud Leroi of Bain & Company.
