BDO Horizons 2025 - Issue 1

Original content provided by BDO

In this edition of BDO M&A Horizons, we have a special article on Central American M&A which provides a deep dive into the idiosyncrasies of the region, the changes taking place and the attractiveness for cross border M&A. The overall global data shows a decline on deal activity in the second half of 2024, a drop of around 7%, although the value held up. The year saw a huge amount of political change around the world, together with inflation, high interest rates and general unrest. Private equity has been a major force in the market taking a share of around a third of all deals. The heat chart shows that the expected level of transactions is considerably down if compared to the last few years of data. However, pipelines in the mid-market where we operate, are still healthy. The BDO network has maintained its deal volume level from last year, which contributed to being awarded No. 1 Financial Advisory Globally in the latest FactSet advisors rankings for 2024. We expect activity to pick up once the geopolitical array of uncertainties clear away, to take advantage of the global trends of digitisation.