M&A landscape 2025 overview
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in Greece and the EU-27 & UK in 2025, combining quantitative metrics with qualitative assessment of market dynamics. The analysis benchmarks 2025 activity against prior years to evaluate market direction, key developments, structural trends, sector-specific drivers, and prevailing challenges. The findings presented below are intended to offer a clear and informed view of the trajectory and resilience of the M&A market.
M&A Landscape in the Greek Market
M&A activity accelerated in 2025, reaching €20,6bn in deal value across 183 transactions, surpassing 2024 levels. From 2022 to 2025, the technology, media & telecommunications (TMT) sector maintained its leading position as the most active in terms of volume, while the energy sector led in deal value from 2022 to 2024. In 2025, mega deals in the casino & lotteries, real estate & hospitality, and healthcare & pharmaceuticals sectors took center stage, underscoring a strong investor appetite and a favorable economic outlook.
Key deals in the Greek market:
High-profile transactions in gaming, healthcare, hospitality, and financial services were announced during 2025, with deal sizes ranging from €600m to €9bn, demonstrating the market’s ability to support large transactions. Grant Thornton Greece served as a trusted financial advisor in 4 of the 5 most high-profile 2025 transactions
Greek capital markets landscape
€2,5bn raised from Greek capital markets in 2025, supported by oversubscriptions and strong liquidity, highlighting investor confidence in companies with robust business models and growth momentum. Despite this, the market remains small relative to the European peers, primarily due to limited listings in key sectors such as hospitality, pharmaceuticals, retail, and shipping. Grant Thornton Greece has provided services to 8 out of 14 companies involved in ECM & DCM transactions in 2025.
M&A landscape in the EU-27 & UK market
€466,9bn in deal value was generated across 10.496 transactions in 2025. Industrials and TMT led transaction activity, followed by consumer goods, business services, financial services, and real estate & hospitality, which also showed a notable presence, reflecting broad-based sectoral growth and continued investor engagement across ΕU-27 and UK.
Outlook for 2026
Expectations for 2026 are cautiously positive, with moderate growth in deal activity across Europe, driven by portfolio reshaping, Private Equity deployment and exit pressure and ongoing sector consolidation. Deal execution will remain selective, focusing on strategic fit and value creation. Greece stands to benefit from a "risk-on" environment, especially for assets with clear cash flows and scalability.
The evolving Greek market landscape - strengthened by Euronext’s acquisition of ATHEX and the anticipated MSCI upgrade - enhances capital markets access for larger corporates, facilitating a more diversified and balanced funding mix. Smaller companies are likely to continue relying primarily on bank financing.
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