M&A Update: Tentative Buyer and Investor Caution Following Strong Q1
- Kennedy Editorial
- Sep 16
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 17
By Ramone Param, Managing Partner, Kennedy Consult and M&A I Advisor to Consulting Leaders, Buyers/Investors I M&A, Strategic Advisory and Benchmarking
Rising vigilance amongst strategic and financial buyers follows recent equity market volatility and uncertain impact of new tariff policies. This is preceded by a robust first quarter of deal activity and rising reported valuation metrics on professional services deals.
Key Takeaways from the M&A Update: Tentative Buyer and Investor Caution Following Strong Q1
Kennedy M&A’s latest buyer intelligence indicates some recent tentative caution amongst buyers linked to volatile equity markets, the uncertain impact of tariffs, geopolitical tensions and impact on interest rates.
Cross-border deal activity, particularly involving overseas acquirers in countries most impacted by fresh tariffs, is anticipated to be most at risk. This may drive a stronger emphasis on domestic deal making.
Whilst consultancies and their clients reconfigure their offerings and delivery models to a new macro environment - acquisitions, strategic alliances and/or investments will continue to be considered as tools to fast track this change.
In protectionist times, we observe elevated demand for acquisition targets, investments and alliance partners with strong on-shore capabilities to serve domestic clients.
The proposed tariffs target specific industries and verticals, which will therefore have different impacts on professional services depending on the specific consulting industry subsegment.
As many anticipate a new world of global trade, supply chain transformation has emerged has a hot buyer demand emerging from most recent need to swiftly reconfigure sourcing and supply chains.
The accounting sector continues to undergo huge global transformation led by private equity. Investor-backed Baker Tilly is rumored to be acquiring Seattle-based >$1bn revenue Moss Adams. This follows RSM US’ acquisition of PE-backed Apirio in Canada, Apax investment in Cohn Reznick and Blackstone acquisition of Citrin Cooperman from New Mountain Capital.
Our team of analysts have analyzed the industry for over 30 years. As we have seen during past periods of substantial economic and political change, those agile consultancies with a culture of consistent innovation will benefit from swiftly positioning themselves at the forefront of this latest disruption zone.
As history shows, downturns create opportunities for the agile. Yet our M&A Update: Tentative Buyer and Investor Caution underlines that in 2025, success will depend on balancing innovation with disciplined deal structures.
Kennedy M&A provides data-driven M&A, strategic advisory services and benchmarking to leadership teams of innovation-led consulting firms globally.
Reach out to discuss:
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Briefing sessions with our leadership to discuss the latest industry developments in the context of your consulting firm’s strategy.
2025 Global Consulting Industry Navigator subscription, and custom intelligence into your specific professional services markets.
Strategic and operational performance reviews of your consulting firm considering our last industry benchmarks.
Note: This article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. The intelligence has been gathered from a variety of public and non-publicly available sources, which have not all been verified, reviewed or approved. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not represent the views of any affiliate organization. Any opinions or views expressed are as of the date written and are subject to change without notice, and may be updated or modified at any time.
