Explore the data for January to March 2026 New Zealand deal activity round-up
In Q1 2026, 49 deals were announced, up 36% from 36 deals in Q1 2025 and unchanged from Q4 2025. This sustained level of activity suggests cautious optimism in the market, despite ongoing global uncertainty.
The data reveals:
- Trade buyers continued to dominate deal activity, accounting for 44 of the 49 transactions (90%). Private equity participation meanwhile, remained consistent, with involvement in four transactions in both Q1 2026 and the previous quarter.
- Overseas buyers accounted for 59% of deals, highlighting continued international interest in New Zealand businesses. Australia and the United States led this offshore interest, participating in 10 and six deals respectively.
- The Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) sector was the most active with 14 deals, followed by the Business Services with eight.
Number of deals per quarter 2023 to 2026
Deals by sector and buyer type
Deals by country and buyer type
Note:
The data has been filtered to exclude: (i) real estate transactions; (ii) early stage venture capital transactions where size is stated or estimated to be less than $1.5m; (iii) transactions announced but yet to complete; (iv) liquidation sales; (v) other transactions where applicable.
Sources: Mergermarket, CapitalIQ, Eikon, Pitchbook, PwC analysis (1 April 2026)
M&A in volatile times Why preparation matters more than timing
Swathi Parikh - M&A Quarterly Update - Q1 2026
Volatility remains a defining feature of the M&A market. Geopolitical tension, energy uncertainty, rapid technological change and a New Zealand election year are contributing to a more complex transaction environment.
Yet deals are still getting done.
What is changing is not whether businesses can transact, but which ones attract strong interest, stand up to scrutiny and maintain momentum through the process. In this environment, preparation matters more than timing.
For founders planning to sell in the coming years, waiting for conditions to improve is rarely enough. A better approach is to use this period to strengthen the business, sharpen the growth story and prepare for due diligence.
A more selective market
M&A activity remains steady across New Zealand, particularly in resilient sectors such as healthcare, technology, financial services and business-to-business services. Private equity remains active, and merger discussions are continuing as businesses seek greater scale and capability extensions in a changing business environment. Buyers have become more selective in progressing opportunities.
What changed is the level of selectivity.
Buyers are spending more time assessing whether performance is sustainable, margins and cash flows are resilient, and the business has a credible long-term growth story.
The result is greater divergence in outcomes. Well-positioned businesses with clear strategic relevance and a credible path to sustainable growth continue to attract strong interest. Businesses with less visibility over future performance, or an inability to explain drivers of past performance, particularly where issues emerge late, are finding transactions harder to close.
Sustainable growth and readiness matter
Long-term growth has always been central to value, but in the current market buyers are placing more weight on it as short-term earnings become more volatile and less consistent. A business does not need to have delivered a perfect last 12 months to be attractive. Buyers understand that short-term results can reflect broader market conditions rather than the quality of the underlying business. What is critical is the ability to clearly explain past performance through well-understood KPIs, and link this to a credible forward-looking growth narrative.
What they want to know is whether the business is positioned for sustainable growth.
That means understanding whether:
- recent performance is temporary or structural
- margins are sustainable
- customer relationships are durable
- management can clearly articulate the path forward.
In this market, buyers are underwriting resilience as much as performance.
Late-stage issues can derail momentum
Issues identified during diligence are having a greater impact on outcomes. There is less tolerance for surprises. Where forecasting lacks credibility or operational issues surface late, momentum can fall away quickly.
The lesson is simple: preparation creates options.
The likely buyer may not be the obvious one
Founders also need to think carefully about who the right buyer might be.
It may not always be the most obvious one. Increasingly, buyers are looking for capability, customer access, data, technology, or adjacency as a platform for future growth, rather than scale alone. That is particularly relevant in sectors being reshaped by technology and AI, where future relevance can matter as much as current market position.
A narrow buyer list can become a self-imposed constraint. A broader and better-framed view of the buyer universe can improve competitive tension, sharpen positioning and support a stronger outcome.
What founders should be doing now
This period should be viewed as an opportunity for deliberate value creation in areas such as:
Strategy: Ensure the business is positioned in the right parts of the market and investing in the areas most likely to support long-term growth.
Operational discipline: Deliver strong cash flow, reliable reporting and a clear articulation of earnings drivers linked to well-understood KPIs.
Technology: Be explicit about how the business is responding to technological change and where digital investment can support competitiveness and margins.
Timing: Start preparation early to refine the growth story and address any potential issues that may weigh on a sale process before going to market.
Volatility may continue, but it does not remove opportunity. It increases the importance of preparation, strategic clarity and execution. For founders, this is the time to assess readiness and focus on the actions that will strengthen value before a process begins. Simply waiting for perfect market conditions, which may never come, is not a strategy for value maximisation.
About the Author
LSEG, rank by number of deals PwC has been the number one mid-market M&A advisor in New Zealand for the last twenty years.
How PwC can help
PwC New Zealand’s Corporate Finance and M&A team is the largest in New Zealand, with a proven track record across a diverse range of sectors. With a nationwide presence led by nine partners, we offer a full range of M&A advisory services including support for divestments, acquisitions, capital raisings and strategic reviews.
Our links to the global network of PwC firms provides relationships with key global market participants, and our close relationship with our Australian colleagues ensures a comprehensive understanding of the Australasian marketplace.
Our M&A team has been ranked the number one firm in New Zealand for the amount of M&A deals by Thomson Reuters (now LSEG) for the last 20 years.
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