Dealmaking

• Asia-Pacific merger and acquisition (M&A) activity has surged to a four-year high, signaling a recovery in regional business confidence. • Despite the increase in deal volume, fees paid to investment bankers have declined, largely because "mega deals" have dropped by 11%. • The current trend is driven by a shift toward smaller, more targeted acquisitions, particularly within the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.

• Goldman Sachs has secured a dominant position in M&A advisory work across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) during the first half of the year. • The firm's success comes amid a broader surge in regional dealmaking, reflecting a recovery in corporate appetite for strategic acquisitions. • This growth underscores Goldman's ability to capture market share from competitors as global financial conditions stabilize and corporate activity accelerates.

• Blueflame published a May 27, 2026 analysis arguing that the next phase of the LLM market will be driven less by individual model quality and more by orchestration across AI tools. • The post says its platform routes each task to the model best suited to handle it, reflecting a growing U.S. enterprise focus on multi-model workflows rather than single-model dependency. • This matters because financial services and dealmaking teams are among the highest-value customers for LLM products, and orchestration could shape procurement decisions.