January 2026 M&A Review: Europe Edition

January’s first big European M&A stories arrived with cash offers, boardroom rebuttals, and a clear message from buyers: if 2025 reopened the market, 2026 is where consolidation starts to look structural.

The month’s most visible approach — Zurich Insurance Group circling Beazley — put public-bid tactics back on the agenda. Elsewhere, the week that followed delivered a different kind of statement: infrastructure consolidation, with Deutsche Börse Group agreeing terms to buy Allfunds, and private markets managers buying capability, not just volume.

Behind the headlines, January also underscored a constraint that is shaping dealmaking across Europe: shareholder scrutiny is higher, and stakeholder optics travel faster than regulatory filings. In consumer-facing assets, particularly in France, boards are now weighing not only price and strategy, but the politics of ownership and “control” narratives.

A quick scan of January’s most impactful M&As shows three patterns.

First, buyers paid for distribution and “plumbing”. Deutsche Börse’s recommended acquisition of Allfunds valued the platform at about €5.35bn, with shareholders set to receive €8.80 per share, split between €6.00 cash and €2.60 in Deutsche Börse shares, plus a permitted €0.20 dividend. The logic was simple and straightforward: fund distribution is sticky, fees are recurring, and the economics reward scale.

Second, private markets groups kept tilting towards liquidity solutions and private credit, where client demand has been less cyclical than classic buyouts. EQT AB agreed to acquire Coller Capital in a $3.2bn transaction, with up to $500m contingent consideration, explicitly positioning secondaries as a core capability. Meanwhile, CVC Capital Partners moved to buy Marathon Asset Management for a base consideration valued at up to $1.2bn, structured as a mix of cash and equity, and expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.

Third, takeover situations proved that price discovery is back — and so is friction. Zurich’s approach for Beazley went public at 1,280p per share, valuing the target at about £7.67bn, and later faced a formal rejection. That tension is not a footnote; it is a sign that boards are prepared to test the market rather than accept a bidder’s timetable.

The five deal stories that defined January —

1) Zurich’s approach for Beazley set the month’s tone —

Zurich announced a possible cash offer at 1,280p per share, valuing Beazley at around £7.67bn, after a sequence of private approaches earlier in the month. Beazley rejected the proposal as materially undervaluing the company, noting it was lower than a prior 1,315p approach it had also turned down. By early February, Zurich disclosed it had built a 1.47 percent stake, escalating a situation that now sits firmly in the public arena.

Watchpoint: the timetable and the rules. Under UK Takeover Panel processes, bidders operate against clear deadlines, which can accelerate decisions or force a retreat.

2) Deutsche Börse’s Allfunds deal was a scale play with a long runway —

The €5.35bn recommended acquisition of Allfunds, announced on 21 January, was the month’s clearest “platform” transaction. Deutsche Börse flagged annual pre-tax cost synergies of around €60m and annual capex savings of around €30m, with closing expected in the first half of 2027. Allfunds’ shareholder base included Hellman & Friedman and BNP Paribas, underlining how competitive the asset had been.

Watchpoint: integration and regulatory endurance. This is not a quick close, and the synergy maths will be judged over multiple reporting cycles.

3) EQT’s move for Coller showed where private markets sees durable demand —

EQT’s agreement to buy Coller for $3.2bn, with up to $500m contingent consideration, was a bet on secondaries as an institutionalised part of portfolio construction. EQT framed the deal as a strategic evolution, with secondaries positioned as an increasingly important tool for clients managing liquidity and portfolio construction.

Watchpoint: cultural fit. Secondaries is a specialist business; retaining investment process independence and talent will matter as much as the headline multiple.

4) CVC’s Marathon agreement underlined Europe’s appetite for private credit capability —

CVC’s plan to buy Marathon, announced on 26 January, carried a base consideration valued at up to $1.2bn, made up of around $400m in cash and up to $800m in CVC equity. The structure signalled two things: a willingness to pay for distribution and origination, and a preference to share upside via equity rather than fully cash-funding the bet.

Watchpoint: performance alignment. Equity-heavy structures can reduce immediate cash strain, but they also raise the bar on integration and growth delivery.

5) EP Group’s bid for Fnac Darty brought ownership politics back into the frame —

On 26 January, EP Group said it would launch a voluntary offer for Fnac Darty at €36 per share, valuing the retailer at about €1.1bn. EP Group already held 28.5 percent via its investment vehicle, and the board welcomed the offer. In France, coverage emphasised the “European control” angle, with discussion extending beyond retail economics into sovereignty and culture-adjacent concerns.

Watchpoint: stakeholder management. A friendly offer can still become a public debate if the asset sits close to national identity, jobs, or media influence.

What January’s deals says about sentiment —

The sentiment running through January’s biggest M&A stories was intent over exuberance. Buyers leaned into assets that offer repeatable revenue — fund distribution, secondaries, private credit — while also demonstrating a readiness to force conversations into daylight when they believe valuation gaps persist.

The month also highlighted a subtle shift in posture. Management teams and boards appear like they are starting to treat deals as reputational campaigns, with messaging, national sensitivities, and regulatory expectations all moving in tandem.

And looming above everything was the reminder that 2026 may still deliver outsized ambition: Rio Tinto and Glencore confirmed early-stage discussions that could, if they progressed, create the world’s largest mining group. Under UK takeover rules, Rio Tinto has until 5 February 2026 to make a firm offer or walk away, unless an extension is granted.

Bottom line —

1. Platform assets command a premium when they reduce complexity. If your business sits in distribution, settlement, or workflow, expect consolidation logic to find you, whether as buyer or target.
2. Public bids are a tool again. Boards should assume that private approaches can become public quickly, and prepare communications, investor outreach, and decision pathways accordingly.
3. Structure is now part of the strategy. Cash, equity, and contingent consideration are being used to balance ambition with discipline. Leaders should be clear on what risks they are asking shareholders to underwrite.
4. Stakeholder optics are deal-critical, not optional. Particularly in consumer and culture-adjacent assets, narrative can shape outcomes long before regulators do.
5. Integration readiness is a competitive advantage. When markets reward scale and capability, the winners are often the teams that can demonstrate an integration track record, not just a strategic slide deck.

January’s lesson was that the buyers who are in the market are being precise about what they want — and increasingly confident about how they go after it.