Latham’s Kelly Forecasts Private Equity-Fueled Second-Half Surge

Mega deals will likely continue driving an M&A resurgence that will accelerate in the second half of 2026, with private equity keeping the pace, predicts Alex Kelly of Latham & Watkins.

Kelly, the law firm’s global co-chair of M&A and private equity practice, said she thinks dealmaking this year will unfold similarly to 2025, when high expectations at the start of the year were dampened by headwinds that gave way to a second-half surge.

“Fundamentals are still there,” Kelly said in a Bloomberg TV interview from the SuperReturn conference in Berlin. “There is a ton of dry powder out ...