KPMG study sees stronger M&A growth as tax incentives boost deals

KPMG’s latest M&A readout points to a market that is warming up, but not loosening its grip on execution. The firm’s 2026 deal survey shows corporate clients expect more activity, private equity is even more aggressive, and the real buying opportunity for KPMG teams is not just in getting deals signed. It is in helping clients prove the thesis after close, connect tax to structure, and keep the business moving while the transaction is still being digested.

Deal volume is rising, but clients are still choosing carefully

The February 2026 M&A Deal Market Study drew on 300 US dealmakers, split evenly between 150 corporate respondents and 150 private equity respondents. Everyone in the sample came from a serious buyer pool: corporates from organizations with at least $1 billion in revenue, and PE firms with fund values of at least $500 million. That matters because the signal is coming from people with actual capital to deploy, not sentiment from the sidelines.

Even with that discipline, the direction is clearly up. KPMG found that 57 percent of corporate leaders expect higher deal volumes in 2026, and more than 82 percent plan to execute one to four deals during the year. That is a useful number for KPMG staff because it suggests a market built around selective, repeatable transactions, not a flood of megadeals. The pitch to clients will need to be less about deal velocity and more about helping them choose the right targets, structure the process cleanly, and avoid value leakage in the first hundred days.

Tax is no longer a back-office issue in the deal thesis

One of the clearest themes in the study is that tax policy is shaping the case for M&A, not just the diligence checklist. KPMG says 64 percent of corporates reported that tax benefits tied to R&D and CapEx increased their desire to pursue deals. For deal teams, that changes the conversation early, because tax is no longer just a closing memo issue or a line item for the model. It is part of the strategic logic behind whether the buyer moves at all.

That shift has real implications for staffing across deal advisory, tax, and transaction support. Clients will need advisers who can connect policy changes to financing, valuation, and structure, then carry those assumptions through diligence and post-close planning. It also means the old division between “deal people” and “tax people” becomes less useful in practice. The work increasingly belongs to teams that can translate tax incentives into transaction economics and then back into operating decisions.

The same survey suggests clients are not panicking about the regulatory climate in the way some headlines imply. Only 18 percent of corporates said the current antitrust environment is harder to navigate than under the previous administration. That does not make antitrust irrelevant, but it does suggest the bigger bottleneck for many buyers is not outright fear of review. It is making sure the deal is worth the effort and can withstand the scrutiny that comes after signing.

Integration is where the value case gets tested

If there is one part of the study that KPMG deal teams should treat as a staffing roadmap, it is the emphasis on integration. Proper integration due diligence was cited by 50 percent of corporate respondents as a top priority, and synergy identification and realization by 37 percent. That tells you where client anxiety is concentrated: not only in finding the deal, but in making sure the target can actually be absorbed without eroding the business.

KPMG also flags leadership and culture misalignment, along with disruption to business momentum, as the most significant post-merger challenges. That is the piece many models miss. A transaction can look fine on paper and still create friction in the first quarter if leadership roles are unclear, decision rights are muddy, or operating teams lose speed while the integration plan is being written. For KPMG professionals, that means more demand for people who can turn diligence findings into operating plans that survive contact with reality.

In practical terms, this is where the firm’s multidisciplinary model matters most. Deal advisory teams will need to work closely with tax specialists, integration leads, and transaction support teams to map the first 100 days, identify synergy capture points, and flag where culture or leadership issues could stall progress. The value proposition is not only to identify problems, but to build the governance and execution rhythm that prevents them from becoming post-close surprises.

Private equity is pushing for more, which raises the bar on speed and precision

Private equity is more bullish than corporates, and that changes the tempo of the market. In KPMG’s separate March 18, 2026 global outlook, 37 percent of PE dealmakers said they expect to complete more than five deals in 2026, compared with 20 percent of corporates. That gap matters for KPMG teams because PE clients tend to move quickly once they have conviction, and they are often more disciplined about value creation mechanisms from day one.

The global survey covered 700 dealmakers across 20 countries and jurisdictions, which broadens the picture beyond the US-only study. It also helps explain why execution capability is becoming the defining factor in M&A outcomes. In a market where many buyers are still selective, the teams that win will be the ones that can support fast diligence, clear value underwriting, and rapid post-close action. For KPMG staff, that tends to increase demand for people who can operate across diligence, integration, and portfolio support, rather than stay trapped in one narrow function.

AI and carve-outs are changing where the work lands

KPMG’s broader global outlook says AI is now being used across the M&A lifecycle, including sourcing, diligence, execution, and integration. That is more than a tech footnote. It signals that deal teams will be expected to do more analysis faster, with tighter coordination between financial, operational, and data workstreams. It also means client expectations are shifting: if AI is embedded in sourcing and diligence, advisers need to be able to explain not just what the model found, but how it changes the transaction path.

At the same time, carve-outs are moving to the center of portfolio strategy. KPMG describes 2026 as the year of the carve-out, and says portfolio separation activity, including divestitures and staged ownership structures, is becoming more central to value creation. That matters for KPMG because carve-outs are not simple clean-up exercises. They require separation planning, TSA work, stranded-cost analysis, data and systems disentanglement, and close coordination between deal, tax, and transaction support teams. For many firms, that will be one of the busiest and most technical parts of the pipeline.

Taken together, the studies point to a market that is active but exacting. Clients are still buying growth, especially through new markets, core-business expansion, and technology or talent acquisition, but they are doing it with a sharper eye on structure and post-close execution. For KPMG deal teams, the selling point in 2026 is not just that a transaction can get done. It is that the firm can help clients make the deal work, from tax thesis to integration plan to portfolio reshaping.