The Spanish M&A market ended 2025 with a striking paradox: fewer, but larger-ticket deals. According to LSEG, 1,885 transactions were completed, with a combined value of EUR 74.648 billion: this represents a 6% decline in deal volume compared to 2024, but a 42% increase in total value. TTR Data completes the picture, reporting 2,823 deals up to November with an aggregate value of EUR86.085 billion, and the real estate sector leading the market by deal count.
This pattern shift is already having an impact on how transactions are being planned for 2026.
What has really changed over the last 12 months is that the market has become more demanding. Fewer transactions, yes, but those that succeeded required more rigorous planning, more carefully managed processes and more coherent sale structures. The industrial mid-market, which is an area of focus for us, is reflecting this trend particularly well.
Where has activity been concentrated?
The real estate sector has been the most active for the last four years, and consolidation continues to shape the agenda. However, investors have become more selective.
In technology and software, the fall in the number of deals should not be interpreted as a loss of appetite, but rather as stabilisation after the boom seen during 2021 and 2022. Activity has focused on industrial digitisation, automatization and solutions applied to traditional sectors.
Professional services have remained stable in the mid-market, with private equity firms seeking platforms which combine organic and inorganic capacity for growth. Venture capital has grown considerably, acting as an early indicator of confidence in certain segments.
The industrial sector remains pivotal. Not in terms of combined deal value, but because of the nature of the transactions it generates, i.e. complex processes which require intensive operative analysis and which are, increasingly, structured as multi-seller transactions.
Complex is the new normal
One of the clearest trends to emerge from 2025 is the increase in structural complexity in the mid-market. Fragmented shareholding structures, shareholders pursuing different exit timelines, conglomerates with a presence in multiple jurisdictions. All of this coexists in the same transaction.
Multi-seller deals are becoming the strategic answer to these environments. Instead of isolated processes, several shareholders or even multiple companies in the same sector are coming together to articulate a joint sale strategy, enhancing scale, investor appeal, and negotiating leverage.
When these transactions take place in multijurisdictional contexts, the challenge increases significantly. The need to coordinate different regulatory, tax and corporate frameworks introduces a level of complexity which demands an integrated approach from the start.
What really makes these transactions complex
Unlike single-seller transactions, multi-seller deals present challenges which cannot be resolved only with strong technical execution. Managing information asymmetries, aligning economic expectations and synchronising decision times are critical factors.
In industrial environments with subsidiaries or activity in several countries, these issues are compounded by the need to ensure legal consistency across different legal systems. Defining the perimeter, harmonising risks and structuring guarantees must be approached from a common position which is understandable and executable for the buyer.
Risk does not lie only in the asset. It is also in the sellers´ capacity to act as a cohesive part. Many processes become lengthy or fail not for a lack of investor interest, but due to inadequate management of this complexity which is not always visible from the outside.
What to expect in 2026
The outlook is moderately optimistic. The gradual decline in interest rates, high levels of private equity liquidity, and the revival of cross-border transactions point to increased market dynamism. Sectors such as defence, artificial intelligence applied to industry, and certain industrial niches are expected to attract a significant share of investor interest.
However, this recovery will not be indiscriminate. Buyers are approaching 2026 with a markedly selective mindset, seeking well-prepared assets, well-run processes, and sale structures that minimise friction.
In multi-seller transactions, investors particularly value clarity in the selling position, perimeter consistency and the capacity of the advising team to translate internal complexity into simplicity in negotiations. Process quality becomes a key element in value creation.
The role of advisors is changing
In this context, the role of industrial mid-market advisors is evolving. Beyond legal or tax execution, a more integrative role is emerging: one that brings together interests and is capable of coordinating disciplines, jurisdictions, and diverse expectations.
Early seller preparation, prior alignment among shareholders, and the anticipation of potential friction points will be critical in 2026. In multi-seller transactions, the ability to manage human and structural dynamics is just as important as technical rigour.
