US M&A deals of the month: July 2026

Capital moved through July along a handful of well-defended routes: delivery networks, advanced materials, energy distribution, bond trading, and logistics property. Across the largest US-linked transactions, buyers paid for systems already embedded in how goods, securities, services, and energy reach their markets.

That emphasis developed the pattern identified in June’s US M&A review, when buyers concentrated on AI software, streaming distribution, industrial reserves, laboratory workflows, and pharmaceutical pipelines. July brought the same appetite for scarce capabilities into operating infrastructure, where network density, customer access, regulation, and capital intensity make replication slow and uncertain.

Although deal values remained high, activity was concentrated rather than broad. PwC’s US Deals 2026 midyear outlook recorded $1.2tn of US M&A during the first five months of the year, almost twice the $603bn reported over the equivalent period in 2025, while the number of transactions declined by 4%. Thirty-nine deals worth at least $5bn contributed $957bn of the total.

Momentum continued at the upper end of the market during the second quarter. EY’s analysis of transactions valued above $100m found that US deal value rose 88% year on year between April and June, while volume increased by 29%. Technology, power and utilities, mobility, and life sciences accounted for much of the growth as companies invested in AI capabilities, infrastructure, portfolio restructuring, and scale.

Within that environment, strategic buyers were prepared to use substantial debt and equity capacity where a target could alter their competitive position. Private investors, meanwhile, continued to favour contracted income, recurring demand, and assets that could support investment over a longer ownership period. Financing remained available, but leverage targets, regulatory remedies, and integration commitments were increasingly set out alongside the acquisition rationale.

Five transactions defined the month.

Delivery networks move towards global scale —

Uber agreed a supported takeover offer for Delivery Hero at €41.50 per share, giving the German-listed delivery group an implied equity value of $14.8bn, or $13.7bn after accounting for Uber’s existing investment. On a pro forma basis, the combined group would operate across 99 markets and would have generated approximately $236bn in gross bookings during 2025.

Delivery Hero adds established local brands, merchant relationships, courier networks, and operating positions across Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. By combining those businesses with Uber’s mobility and delivery platforms, the number of markets offering both services would rise from 34 to 58, expanding the scope for shared memberships, advertising, merchant products, and customer acquisition.

Competition concerns have already shaped the transaction. Delivery Hero has agreed to sell operations in 14 overlapping markets to New York-based SSW Partners for approximately $1.6bn. Uber would acquire businesses in 50 markets that generated around $42bn in gross bookings during 2025, while the operations moving to SSW accounted for approximately $11bn.

By separating the most obvious overlaps before completion, the companies have incorporated part of the anticipated regulatory remedy into the deal structure. Reviews across multiple jurisdictions will still examine local market concentration, treatment of couriers and merchants, data use, pricing, and whether the divested businesses can compete independently.

Existing cash and new debt will fund the offer, supported by a committed bridge facility of approximately €14bn. Uber expects gross leverage to remain below two times, with completion targeted for the second half of 2027. Operationally, the challenge will be to connect the wider platform without weakening the local brands, market knowledge, and delivery density that support Delivery Hero’s position.

Advanced materials enter a larger platform —

Solstice Advanced Materials agreed to acquire Element Solutions in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately $14.5bn, including net debt. Element shareholders are due to receive $10 in cash and 0.5 Solstice shares for each share held, leaving them with approximately 44% of the enlarged company.

The combination joins businesses whose products sit at different points within the advanced-manufacturing chain. Solstice supplies refrigerants, semiconductor materials, data-centre cooling technologies, nuclear power products, protective materials, and healthcare packaging. Element contributes speciality chemicals, electronic materials, technical services, and formulation expertise used in semiconductor fabrication, advanced packaging, circuit-board production, and industrial manufacturing.

Much of the industrial logic follows directly from the expansion of AI and high-performance computing. Greater processing capacity requires increasingly sophisticated chip manufacturing and packaging, while higher heat density increases demand for more effective cooling systems. Bringing electronics materials, refrigerants, thermal-management products, and data-centre cooling into one group gives Solstice a broader position across that investment cycle.

Solstice expects more than $180m of annual net synergies by the third year after completion, with savings identified across procurement, manufacturing, supply chain operations, administration, and other corporate functions. A $4.7bn bridge facility has been secured, and net leverage is expected to stand at approximately 3.5 times at closing before falling below three times adjusted EBITDA within 18 months.

Completion is scheduled for the first half of 2027, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. Element chief executive Ben Gliklich is expected to join the combined board, while Element’s shareholders will retain a substantial economic interest. Even with that continuity, combining research, production, sales, and customer-development teams across technically complex markets will require careful allocation of capital and decision-making authority.

Private capital takes control of energy distribution —

KKR and Energy Capital Partners reached agreement on a recommended acquisition of DCC Energy, valuing the Irish-headquartered and London-listed company at approximately £5.75bn, or around $7.7bn. The base terms comprise 6,525p in cash per share and the 147.22p final dividend paid in July, with a further payment of up to 125p linked to the proposed disposal of DCC’s Nexora technology business.

DCC Energy operates sales, marketing, and distribution businesses across Europe and the US, supplying conventional fuels, liquefied petroleum gas, lubricants, mobility services, and lower-carbon energy products. Its value lies in a combination of local logistics infrastructure, storage capacity, customer relationships, operating licences, and recurring demand across fragmented regional markets.

The offer also illustrates the valuation gap that can emerge between public and private ownership. DCC’s board weighed the certainty of a cash exit against the time and execution risk attached to delivering its medium-term strategy while waiting for public markets to apply a higher valuation. The base consideration and final dividend represent a 24% premium to the undisturbed closing price and a 33% premium to the three-month volume-weighted average before the offer period began.

Under KKR and ECP, the business would retain the capacity to consolidate smaller distribution operations and invest through a prolonged shift in customer demand. Conventional fuel volumes are likely to face structural pressure, but established distribution networks can be adapted to different products as energy use changes. Such a transition requires sustained investment, operational knowledge, and a willingness to accept returns that may emerge over several years.

Equity from the buyer group and debt from a broad banking syndicate will fund the transaction. Shareholder, court, antitrust, and foreign-investment approvals are still required, with completion expected during the first quarter of 2027. Private ownership may reduce short-term market pressure, although acquisition financing and continuing capital expenditure will place greater demands on cash generation and asset discipline.

ICE extends its fixed-income infrastructure —

Intercontinental Exchange agreed to acquire MarketAxess for $167 per share in cash, representing an equity value of approximately $6bn and an enterprise value of about $5.7bn. The offer carried a 33% premium to MarketAxess’s closing share price immediately before the announcement.

MarketAxess connects approximately 2,100 institutional investors and broker-dealers across more than 90 countries. Its electronic markets cover corporate bonds, municipal securities, emerging-market debt, Eurobonds, US Treasuries, and other fixed-income products. ICE already provides pricing and reference data, indices, analytics, connectivity, and trading infrastructure across institutional, retail, and wealth markets.

Bond trading remains more fragmented than public-equity trading, with liquidity dispersed across institutions, instruments, and execution protocols. Many participants still rely on separate providers for market data, analytics, execution, compliance, and post-trade functions. MarketAxess gives ICE a stronger institutional execution network alongside the information and infrastructure it already controls.

Connecting pre-trade analysis, price discovery, execution, transaction data, indices, and post-trade services should deepen ICE’s position within client workflows. It would also increase the amount of proprietary market information generated across the group, supporting the data and analytics businesses that have become central to exchange operators’ economics.

ICE expects approximately $100m of annual expense synergies within three years and intends to finance the acquisition entirely through new debt, using bonds, a term loan, and commercial paper. Gross leverage is expected to reach approximately 3.4 times at completion before returning to three times or less within 18 to 24 months. Closing is planned for the first half of 2027, subject to shareholder approval and regulatory clearance.

The integration cannot be managed solely as a cost programme. MarketAxess depends on participation, liquidity, client confidence, and the perceived neutrality of its trading network. ICE will need to connect the businesses closely enough to develop a broader fixed-income platform while preserving the relationships and trading behaviour that give the marketplace its value.

Logistics assets return to private ownership —

Brookfield Asset Management and CPP Investments agreed to acquire LXP Industrial Trust in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $5.2bn, including net debt and preferred equity. LXP shareholders are due to receive $61.20 per share, representing a 12.3% premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average and a 19.8% premium to the 90-day average.

LXP owns approximately 53m square feet of warehouse and logistics space across 108 properties, with a concentration in Sunbelt and Midwest industrial markets. Modern buildings, high occupancy, and long leases give the portfolio the durable income characteristics sought by investors with long-term capital.

Changes in production and trade have strengthened the strategic case for well-located industrial property. Domestic manufacturing investment, more complex supply chains, inventory resilience, population growth, and regional distribution requirements all support demand for logistics capacity. At the same time, suitable land is finite, development is expensive, and planning and construction restrict how quickly competing space can be added.

Under private ownership, Brookfield and CPP Investments would have greater flexibility over development, redevelopment, leasing, and asset sales than a listed real-estate investment trust operating under quarterly market scrutiny. Brookfield’s operating platform can support that work, while LXP’s existing leases would continue to generate income during any repositioning or expansion programme.

The agreement includes a 40-day go-shop period running until 28 August, allowing LXP to seek alternative proposals. Completion is expected during the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to shareholder approval and other customary conditions, and is not dependent on financing. Once the acquisition closes, LXP will leave the New York Stock Exchange and operate as a privately held company.

Bottom line —

July’s largest US-linked transactions shared a preference for businesses positioned between producers and end markets. Uber pursued the network through which orders reach customers, Solstice expanded across the materials needed to manufacture and cool advanced computing systems, KKR and ECP moved into energy distribution, ICE added institutional bond execution, and Brookfield and CPP Investments targeted the physical infrastructure used to store and move goods.

Each target benefits from barriers that extend beyond brand recognition or product quality. Delivery density depends on local scale and merchant participation. Advanced materials require years of research, customer qualification, and manufacturing expertise. Energy distribution relies on infrastructure, licences, and established commercial relationships. Electronic markets need liquidity and trust, while logistics property depends on location, planning, capital, and tenant demand.

AI remained influential without dominating the month’s headlines. Solstice’s acquisition directly links semiconductor materials with thermal management and data-centre cooling, while growing computing demand continues to affect power, construction, equipment, and property markets. Investment connected to AI is spreading through sectors that would previously have been treated as conventional chemicals, utilities, infrastructure, or real estate.

Debt markets were open to acquirers with strong cash flows and credible integration plans. Uber arranged a bridge facility of approximately €14bn, Solstice secured $4.7bn of committed financing, and ICE will use newly issued debt for an all-cash acquisition. The DCC consortium also assembled funding from a large group of lenders. In each case, the financing plan includes explicit leverage levels, synergy targets, or deleveraging timetables that will provide investors and lenders with early measures of execution.

Regulatory review is equally embedded in the transactions. Uber’s disposal of operations in 14 overlapping markets offers the clearest example, although antitrust, foreign-investment, financial-regulation, and court approvals feature across the five deals. As platforms span technology, infrastructure, commerce, finance, and data, authorities will examine access, pricing, information use, customer choice, and the position of competitors that rely on the acquired network.

Integration risks vary by sector, but the acquired businesses all depend on relationships that can be damaged by poorly handled change. Merchants, couriers, investors, dealers, tenants, customers, and counterparties must continue to use the network after ownership changes. Cost savings that weaken technical responsiveness, local autonomy, liquidity, service quality, or confidence would undermine the commercial advantages used to justify the purchase price.

Compared with June, when the largest transactions concentrated on software, media, industrial resources, research tools, and clinical pipelines, July moved closer to the mechanisms of commercial delivery. Buyers sought control over routes to customers, liquidity, energy, specialist materials, and physical capacity. Those systems are expensive to assemble and difficult to replace, but their value depends on continued participation, disciplined investment, and operational continuity.

The month therefore reflected conviction supported by selectivity. Capital was available for assets capable of changing the structure of an acquirer’s business, particularly where the target controlled a scarce network, specialised capability, or durable source of income. Buyers were also expected to show how the resulting leverage, regulatory process, and integration programme could be managed without weakening the asset they had paid to control.