Approximately 60% of Companies Recognize the Need for Stricter Regulations Against Predatory M&A

The Survey on Corporate Attitudes Toward Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)

Executive Summary

Only 29.2% of companies expect to be involved in M&A within the next five years, which is a 6.7-point decline from the previous survey conducted in June 2019.

In contrast, the percentage of companies that reported no expectation of involvement in M&A within the next five years increased across all company sizes and industries compared to the previous survey.

This indicates a growing sense of caution toward M&A.

Due to increasing concerns over predatory M&A practices by buyers, 59.4% of companies, nearly 60%, indicated that stricter regulations are needed, suggesting that regulatory reinforcement against predatory M&A has become an urgent matter.

Survey Period: Dec. 18, 2024 – Jan. 6, 2025
Survey Target: 26,721 Companies Nationwide
Valid Responses: 10,935 Companies (Response Rate: 40.9%)

M&A Activity Over the Past Five Years (2019-2024) 11.1% of companies have engaged and Significant gap by company size

Over the Past Five Years (2019–2024), 11.1% of Companies have engaged in M&A.

This figure includes companies that did as buyers, sellers, or both.

In contrast, 84.4% of companies reported no involvement in M&A during the same period.

By company size, 25.5% of large companies have conducted M&A over the past five years, 17.1 points higher than the 8.4% of small and medium sized enterprises(SMEs).

Among buyers, large companies accounted for 20.4%, approximately four times the rate of SMEs (5.3%).

By industry, the financial sector reported the highest M&A implementation rate at 17.6%, whereas the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector had the lowest at 5.1% , it is the only industry falling below 10%.

By number of employees, the larger the workforce, the higher the proportion of companies that had conducted M&A. Among companies with over 1,000 employees, the implementation rate exceeded 50.4%, while among those with five or fewer employees, it stood at just 5.3%, a difference of 45.1 percentage points…

To read the full survey click here.


Source: Teikoku Databank America, Inc