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Announced mergers and acquisitions involving the MENA region reached a record $193.1 billion in 2025, a 154 percent increase from the prior year, while the number of deals climbed 19 percent to an all-time high of 1,380, LSEG Deals Intelligence reported. JP Morgan advised on the largest transaction, a $55 billion consortium-led acquisition of Electronic Arts by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The bank secured second place in regional league tables with 17 deals valued at $62.6 billion.
Ahmed Salem, JP Morgan’s co-head of investment banking for MENA, told Zawya that the M&A landscape will continue to bring certain sectors into focus, including energy, artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure. He noted this emphasis reflects how countries across the region aim to position themselves as global leaders in these areas. Salem attributed much of the 2025 surge to national champions and cash-rich sovereign wealth funds shifting toward direct investments and buyouts rather than earlier-stage equity plays.
A $40 billion sale of US data centre operator Aligned Data Centres to a group that included the UAE’s MGX stood among other major national champion-backed transactions last year. Outbound dealmaking from MENA totalled $101.2 billion in 2025, setting another record, even as some ambitious pursuits such as Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s $19 billion bid for Australia’s Santos ultimately did not close despite JP Morgan’s advisory role on the potential energy transaction. Salem said that even though some mega acquisitions did not conclude, they give the market an indication of the level of ambition that we are starting to see across the region.
Deals with a MENA target climbed 164 percent to $80.5 billion last year, according to LSEG data. Materials accounted for 41 percent of target deal value, lifted by the ADNOC and OMV combination of chemicals producers Borouge and Borealis, while real estate and energy completed the top three sectors by value even as financial services and technology generated the largest number of transactions. Hani Deaibes, JP Morgan’s other co-head of investment banking for MENA, highlighted the increasing participation of private-sector players, citing KKR’s stake in Gulf Data Hub accompanied by a commitment to invest more than $5 billion in GCC data infrastructure.
Deaibes described the Gulf Data Hub transaction as an example of a top-tier investor backing a local family-owned business that demonstrates strong success potential while drawing premium capital into the region. He added that the region is significantly better prepared than during the last downcycle as it enters a period that may bring pressure on oil prices. Deaibes expressed optimism from both a fiscal standpoint and the likely resilience of deal activity.
A PwC Middle East assessment placed the number of completed M&A transactions across the Middle East at 635 for 2025, a 33 percent rise that returned volumes to 2022 levels, with roughly half representing intra-regional activity. JP Morgan’s bankers indicated another mega deal on the scale of the Electronic Arts transaction remains possible this year because the region retains substantial untapped potential. LSEG data on global M&A trends through the first half of 2026 has shown continued strength in large transactions, aligning with the positive outlook voiced by the MENA investment banking team.
