How Transatlantic Cross-Border M&A Deal Flow is Defying Headwinds

For years, the narrative around cross-border M&A has been dominated by themes of fragmentation: COVID-era travel restrictions, snarled supply chains, tariff uncertainty, and a divisive geopolitical climate. With such forces at play, it would be reasonable to assume that such M&A activity has cooled.

But the data, particularly between the world’s two largest developed economic regions, North America and Europe, tells a quite different story.

Rather than retreating inward, acquirers on both sides of the Atlantic have leaned further into cross-border transactions. Today, the U.S.–Europe M&A corridor, particularly, is not only resilient but significantly more active in a post-COVID world, contrary to the description above.

A Five-Year Surge in Transatlantic Deal Flow
According to Mergermarket data, excluding megadeals, quarterly M&A activity between the two regions was meaningfully steady over the five years leading up to Q2 2020. On average, there were 187 M&A transactions per quarter involving North American buyers (primarily U.S.) of Western European businesses, and 133 in the opposite direction.

However, in a similar five-year period since Q3 of 2020, there has been a sharp upward increase: an average of 287 transactions per quarter involving North American buyers of Western European businesses, and across the pond, 194 Western European buyers of North American companies.

Businesses across the Atlantic effectively sit “on sale” for U.S. buyers when calculating day-one purchase price consideration.

This change represents a 54% and 46% increase, respectively, and even more noteworthy, it isn’t merely a post-COVID bump. Activity has remained structurally elevated through 2023, 2024, and into 2025 YTD, with average North American-to-Western Europe volumes consistently in the 256–263 range per quarter, and Western Europe-to-North American volumes in the 179–190 range.

The UK as a Gateway
From a country perspective, the UK has consistently been the most active location for businesses targeted by North American buyers, with M&A volumes accounting for close to 40% of the Western Europe figures previously referenced. Historical ties, a shared language, similar legal and regulatory regimes, and cultural overlap continue to drive transaction flows between the U.S. and the UK. For U.S. strategics and sponsors alike, the UK often serves as both a natural entry point and a scalable platform for further European expansion. Despite Brexit, this trend has shown no signs of abating.

From an industry perspective, Technology, Media & Telecom (TMT) is the most active sector in both directions, with close to a third of all volume. Add business services, industrials, and healthcare, and these four sectors account for nearly 75% of all transatlantic M&A between North America and Western Europe. These sectors benefit from scalable business models, deep pools of intellectual property, and the ability to accelerate cross-border value creation, making them natural targets for investors on both sides of the Atlantic.

Acceleration Drivers: Currency, Valuations, and Value-Creation
Since 2015, the U.S. dollar has remained structurally strong against both the pound and the euro. Based on average annual data from OFX, in the years following the 2008 financial crisis, GBP/USD traded at roughly 1.60 until 2016, when the dollar strengthened and the pair moved to around 1.40, with subsequent years seeing further dollar appreciation toward the low-1.20s. Against the euro, EUR/USD declined sharply in 2015, falling from approximately 1.40 to around 1.10, and has remained below the mid-1.20s ever since. As a result, businesses across the Atlantic effectively sit “on sale” for U.S. buyers when calculating day-one purchase price consideration.

Cross-border capability has become a powerful pitch and a compelling part of the value-creation playbook.

This is compounded by the fact that, according to PitchBook data, leveraged buyout valuation multiples have tended to be lower in Europe than in the U.S., with U.S. multiples, on average, about 10% higher than those in Europe between 2022 and 2025 YTD. With intense competition and record levels of dry powder, pricing has pushed up, and U.S. sponsors and corporates increasingly find Europe to be an attractive alternative ground for capital deployment without sacrificing quality.

Additionally, for European acquirers, the U.S. remains the world’s most important growth market. European buyers of U.S. businesses gain immediate scale and brand recognition that might otherwise take years to build. Conversely, U.S. sponsors acquiring European businesses can often accelerate transatlantic expansion in the opposite direction — offering portfolio companies access to U.S. networks, customers, and market know-how in less familiar territory. In short, cross-border capability has become a powerful pitch and a compelling part of the value-creation playbook.

Private Credit Markets are Facilitating Increased Cross-Border M&A Volumes
From a debt perspective, a key catalyst behind this surge is the evolution of the financing markets. The European private credit market has grown and matured considerably over the last 20 years, now frequently providing financing support to overseas sponsors as they make investments across the European continent. As more investors pursue transatlantic acquisitions, the need for flexible cross-border financing structures has grown alongside them, and private credit funds have stepped up to facilitate such transactions, particularly in the lower- and mid-market space.

While in recent years we have seen U.S. credit funds establishing European teams, and significant lender M&A activity in both directions across the Atlantic, the differences between the U.S. and European financing markets remain meaningful. Navigating these nuances is challenging, but it also presents opportunities: sponsors can often achieve superior outcomes by running competitive processes across both markets. This cross-border financing dynamic is a topic deserving deeper exploration and one we will cover further in an upcoming article.

In Closing
Despite heightened geopolitical tension and globalization complexity in recent years, the transatlantic M&A corridor isn’t weakening — it’s strengthening. Cross-border M&A continues to offer strategic, financial, and operational benefits that domestic transactions alone cannot match. For sponsors pursuing growth, cross-border execution capability is becoming an increasingly critical differentiator and one that we expect to continue to be high on sponsors’ strategic agendas.

Configure Partners
Configure Partners is a credit-focused investment bank specializing in debt placement for middle-market private equity sponsors. The firm supports acquisition financings, refinancings, and dividend recaps, with growing cross-border capabilities. Unlike M&A advisors that treat debt as an add-on, Configure is built around debt advisory as a core service. That execution-first approach—combined with a lender mindset that treats the firm as an extension of the sponsor—has translated into repeat business, with more than 80% of revenue coming from returning clients.

About the Author: Based in New York City, David Fleming joined Configure in 2025 as Managing Director. He has nearly two decades of experience supporting the debt financing and M&A needs of private equity sponsors and private companies, with a special focus on supporting cross-border transactions between the US and European markets. During his career, David has advised clients in structuring and executing more than $7 billion in financings comprising super senior, senior, stretch senior, unitranche, and subordinated debt from the bank and private capital markets. Before joining Configure, he was a Managing Director at Deloitte Corporate Finance, where he led its U.S. Cross Border Debt & Capital Advisory business out of New York City. He began his career at Deloitte in the UK, within the Corporate Finance Advisory department. David has a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from the University of Liverpool.

If the above article has sparked a question or thoughts about cross-border transactions, please feel free to reach out to David Fleming at dfleming@configurepartners.com.