“We’re about year three” in seven-year M&A cycle – KPMG’s Liz Claydon, with Lucinda Guthrie

“We’re about year three” in a seven-year M&A cycle that will see 2026 and 2027 sustain the astonishing deal growth seen this past 12 months. That’s the bold claim of Liz Claydon, global head of deal advisory and global sector lead for Life Sciences at KPMG. In this week’s Dealcast, Claydon joins Lucinda Guthrie, global executive editor at Mergermarket, to discuss how global CEOs have adjusted to technological and geopolitical disruption by seizing the opportunity to reshape their corporate footprints via transformational M&A.

At USD 4.81tn, 2025’s global M&A haul has been underpinned by 70 megadeals worth more than USD 10bn. Claydon and Guthrie unpack how trade tensions have kicked off a race for pureplay scale – and explore the extent to which AI is not only driving deal planning, but also value creation execution.

Taking in Jared Kushner’s flight from the Warner Bros. Discovery tussle, amid the biggest haul of North American listed dealmaking since 2007; the M&A financing environment in a world of rich valuations; and shifting investor sentiment towards inbound China dealmaking, this episode is a one-stop-shop for practitioners window dressing before year-end – and running the rule on next year’s pipeline.