Ansarada’s 2027 M&A Predictions Report suggests uncertainty and AI is widening the expectation gap between buyers and sellers.
The report features 23 dealmakers – from eight regions globally – who discuss the dynamics behind the 2026 M&A market and what’s in store for 2027.
Among them is Kevin Defour, director of corporate finance advisory at Deloitte Belgium, who says that 80 percent of what his team does is sell-side, and 99 percent of that is families or entrepreneurs opening up their capital structure for the first time. For those families, Belgium’s fiscal reform and capital gains tax changes created real uncertainty early in 2026. The report singles out Belgium, alongside Australia, as a market where such changes are “forcing founders and family businesses to rethink when they sell”.
Yunus Acar, the vice president of corporate finance at Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Banking, sees the same in the broader Benelux, pointing to private equity firms with plenty of portfolio assets they must bring to market – some of which they bought at peak.
He highlights “the persistent use of 2021-22 peak multiples as reference points”, which “puts pressure on returns for current portfolio companies while simultaneously challenging new investments”.
On the other hand, what buyers will pay reflects the conditions they expect to find going forward, and the report notes that uncertainty is increasingly being priced into transactions. But Yunus says this is nothing new: “Each year, we start with a very positive outlook and then something new happens and the markets turn.”
What has surprised him, however, was how relatively resilient deal activity still proves to be, despite the uncertainty. “Everyone seems to get used to this idea that there’s always something around the corner,” he observes. “Dealmakers just keep going with what we are doing, and when we get there, we’ll cross that bridge.”
In 2026, that something was the Iran war, which reignited inflation and supply-chain disruption. Kevin has witnessed the same behaviour in Belgian markets that Yunus sees in the broader Benelux:
“The market is going relatively well, but the execution risk in our portfolio is also increasing.”
Buyers' caution shows up in financing and valuation. Kevin says transactions now take two to three months longer than they used to, largely because of more conservative financing conditions and stress-tested valuations.
And now buyers are repricing in AI
Alongside the macro picture, the strong momentum of the tech industry has slowed down as buyers bring stronger scrutiny.
“One of the first questions we always get is… is this business model AI-proof in the future? What will the impact be?” Kevin shares. Sometimes, 40 percent of the buyer list will drop off based on that answer alone.
The report suggests that buyers are seeking evidence of recurring revenue, testing whether a target has a genuine AI moat, such as data ownership and quality, model dependencies, information-security controls, IP rights, customer permissions and the measurable impact of any AI claims.
Regulation adds another layer to that assessment. Kevin admits that evolving EU rules, including AI-specific due diligence on some cross-border deals, create ambiguity that even advisers can't always resolve for their clients. Alexander Manus of Frankfurt-based Sigma Corporate Finance says client NDAs increasingly ban training on data room content and passing client data to third-party providers. He expects such clauses to be standard by 2027.
The data room: Where expectations meet
In the report, Ansarada MD Justin Smith sets out what gets a deal across the line, based on input from the 23 dealmakers who contributed to the report. He reveals that it takes “structures that bridge the gap between what sellers want and what buyers will pay”, and the solution could sit in the problem itself.
Across markets, the report finds AI making diligence faster while surfacing more issues. “AI is increasing the volume of information that can be reviewed within a fixed period. It is not necessarily reducing the overall amount of diligence,” Leslie Koh of EY-Parthenon Malaysia explains, adding that broader contract coverage replaces sampling, which brings more inconsistencies and more questions to management.
That makes preparation, in Leslie’s view, the defining challenge of 2027. “A poorly prepared data room may result in a faster discovery of problems rather than a faster transaction,” he warns.
Frank Janik of BDO in Thailand sums it up as “a more robust conversation between buyers and sellers, but that conversation is typically taking longer”.
Justin paints a picture of how far processes have already stretched:
“Processes that once took six months now take nine. Diligence goes deeper, and buyers ask more questions before they commit.”
The report expects 2027 to be much the same. Download it here for the full outlook.
For Kevin, much depends on how far AI’s capabilities really go, and how its regulation evolves. “I hope there’s some clarity on certain levels in 2027, because I think that will be a big driver of what the M&A market does next year,” he says.
