M&A deal
A majority of companies — 54% — expect mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity to increase despite a record slow start for 2025, according to a survey of senior human resources professionals by global advisory, broking, and solutions company WTW.
“Low deal volumes during the first half of 2025 suggest pent-up demand fueling a new wave of deals when market stability improves,” Jim Plomer, a global M&A consultant, said in a statement issued by WTW. “However, a majority of companies have expressed concern about their level of preparedness for future transactions, exacerbated by the possibility that timelines will need to be accelerated if the objective is to complete by year end.”
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Specifically, HR teams cited they are under increasing pressure, with 65% feeling less than fully prepared to handle their deal portfolio. Respondents acknowledged significant challenges to execute HR due diligence — which typically includes a thorough review of a target company’s human resources’ policies and practices to assess potential liabilities, synergies, and risks related to the workforce.
Survey respondents viewed data completeness, quality, and integrity as their top due-diligence challenges, according to WTW. Escalating data demands as the time allowed to complete due diligence tightens reinforce the need for sellers to be prepared if they are to maximize deal value, officials added. Also, less than one in five survey respondents believed their HR teams have been properly included in preliminary negotiations.
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“The role of HR should already be in full swing even before M&A discussions take shape, looking at the culture, the people, their values, and whether they will fit,” Plomer said. “Proactively assessing people-related challenges and opportunities is critical to enhancing deal value and easing integration.”
The survey — which includes responses from more than 80 HR leaders based in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific who are involved in their organization’s deal-making — also found that 78% of HR professionals identified key talent with unique or special skillsets below executive level as their highest due diligence priority. The leading metric for integration success was retention of non-executive talent (50%) — significantly higher than leadership retention (29%). However, resource constraints are rising at a greater rate than culture and technology challenges, with 74% of non-U.S. and 54% of U.S. companies stating that aligning cultures remains the overall top challenge.
WTW’s global “Barometer Survey” is conducted by every two years to gauge current and future trends in the M&A and divestiture space.
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