Goldman Sachs said on Thursday it has completed the acquisition of active exchange-traded fund provider Innovator Capital Management, expanding the Wall Street bank's presence in the fast-growing active ETF segment.

Active ETFs are among the fastest-growing areas of asset management, attracting investors with lower costs and flexible strategies at a time when returns from some passive index products have lagged.

The bank said in December that it would acquire Innovator Capital, which managed 171 ETFs with about $31 billion in assets, in a deal worth about $2 billion.

"With this acquisition, we have taken a transformative step in our commitment to provide sophisticated investment solutions that are designed to deliver specific outcomes for investors through market cycles," Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said.

By Dev Chatterjee

India’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity fell sharply in the March quarter, with total deal value dropping to $17 billion in 2026 year-to-date, the lowest for the period since 2021, according to Dealogic data.

The figure is nearly half of the $34.48 billion recorded in the same period last year, signalling a slowdown in large-ticket transactions. Deal volumes, however, were relatively resilient at 236 transactions compared with 310 a year earlier, indicating continued activity in mid-sized deals even as big acquisitions remained limited.

The data points to a shift in India’s M&A cycle towards volume-driven activity rather than value-led transactions. While a few marquee deals provided some support, the absence of multiple large transactions weighed on overall deal values during the quarter.

Unilever is close to finalising a deal to combine parts of its food business with McCormick & Company, creating a new entity valued at around $60 billion, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

The proposed transaction is expected to be structured as a cash-and-stock deal, with Unilever shareholders likely to own roughly two-thirds of the combined food business, the report said.

The deal could be announced as early as Tuesday and is set to include a cash component of approximately $16 billion, according to sources cited by the newspaper.

Warner Bros Discovery has agreed to be acquired by Paramount Skydance in a $110 billion deal signed Friday morning, according to an audio clip of a global townhall by the company, which was reviewed by Reuters.

"Netflix had the legal right to match the PSKY offer. As you all know, they ultimately decided not to do that. That then resulted in a signed agreement with PSKY as of this morning. So that's where everything stands," Bruce Campbell, Warner Bros' chief revenue and strategy officer, said in the townhall.

Paramount and Warner Bros did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The agreement caps a bidding war after Netflix declined to match Paramount's latest $31-per-share offer, which was deemed superior by Warner Bros to the streaming pioneer's $27.75-per-share agreement for its studio and streaming assets.

Paramount shares jumped 24%, while Netflix rose 13% as investors welcomed its decision to back out of the Warner Bros race. 'EU ANTITRUST APPROVAL LIKELY NOT A HURDLE'

Paramount Skydance is now on track to take over Warner Bros. Discovery after Netflix withdrew from the bidding war. The move hands control of a vast entertainment empire spanning: CNN, Nickelodeon, HBO, and Warner's blockbuster franchises, to the Ellison family, headed by Oracle founder Larry Ellison and his son, Paramount CEO David Ellison.

Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said the deal "was always a 'nice to have' at the right price, not a 'must have' at any price." They added that while Netflix would have been "strong stewards of Warner Bros. iconic brands," the new price required to match Paramount's offer made the acquisition "no longer financially attractive."
Paramount's bid, valued at $31 per share, aims to acquire the entire Warner Bros. Discovery company, including HBO Max, CNN, and blockbuster franchises such as Harry Potter and Superman. In contrast, Netflix had sought only Warner's studio and streaming assets at $27.75 per share. Paramount has also agreed to a $7 billion regulatory termination fee and to cover the $2.8 billion breakup fee owed to Netflix if the deal proceeds.

Paramount Skydance submitted a higher offer for Warner Bros Discovery, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday, ratcheting up efforts to derail the HBO Max owner's deal with Netflix.

The bidding war for one of Hollywood's most coveted assets, including the "Harry Potter" and "Game of Thrones" franchises, has raised the stakes for dominance in the streaming-led market.

Paramount's new bid — which improves its initial offer of $108.4 billion, or $30 per share, for the whole company — seeks to address Warner Bros' concerns about the certainty of its financing, the source said.

Merck is in talks to buy cancer drug developer Revolution Medicines in a $28 billion to $32 billion deal, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Revolution shares jumped nearly 16% in extended trading following the report. Merck has been pursuing an acquisition of Revolution Medicines, however, a deal has not been finalised, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter, adding a tie-up would be at least several weeks away. Other large pharmaceutical groups were still circling the biotech and another suitor might yet prevail, the FT report said, adding a transaction is not a foregone conclusion. A potential buyout of Revolution by Merck would mark the biggest deal in the pharmaceutical sector in nearly three years since Pfizer's $43 billion takeover of cancer biotech Seagen.

Goldman Sachs once again dominated the league tables for global dealmaking in 2025, taking market share and the top spot in a year marked by high-stakes political drama and increasingly bigger mergers. The rise of the $10 billion deal - of which there were 68 last year totaling $1.5 trillion, more than double the year prior - helped Goldman secure its No. 1 ranking, according to LSEG data. The firm advised on 38 of those deals, more than any other investment bank, with $1.48 trillion in total volume of deals advised on. It was the strongest period for mega deals, by number, since LSEG records began in 1980. Calling 2025 an "exceptional M&A year," Goldman's Global Co-Head of M&A Stephan Feldgoise told clients "it was an extraordinary M&A market," with activity driven by a "ubiquity of capital," according to the investment bank's 2026 M&A outlook.

Coforge on Friday said that it has agreed to acquire US-based digital engineering firm Encora in an all-stock transaction valued at an enterprise value of $2.35 billion (around Rs 21,140 crore), marking one of the largest overseas acquisitions by an Indian mid-tier IT services company and signalling a sharper strategic shift towards AI-led engineering, data and cloud services. The deal pegs Encora’s equity value at about $1.89 billion (around Rs 17,000 crore) and will see Coforge acquire 100% of the company from private equity investors Advent International, Warburg Pincus and other minority shareholders. The balance between the equity value and enterprise value, amounting to up to $550 million (around Rs 4,100 crore), will be used to retire Encora’s existing term loan. Coforge said the transaction will be executed entirely through a share swap, with no cash consideration being paid to the selling shareholders. As part of the acquisition, Coforge will issue about 93.8 million equity shares at an issue price of Rs 1,815.91 per share, implying a premium of about 8.5% to the company’s closing price on Friday. Post-transaction, Encora’s shareholders will collectively hold about 20–21% of Coforge’s expanded equity capital.

Japan's mergers and acquisitions market is set to maintain buoyant growth momentum into 2026, with increasing deal sizes supported by innovative financing structures involving private capital, a Goldman Sachs executive said. As Japan's largest companies streamline business portfolios and target growth investments, financing structures that tap the vast pool of private capital are set to bring more deals over the line, David Dubner, chief operating officer of global M&A and head of M&A structuring, said in an interview with Reuters. These "high-grade" financing models combine equity and debt with private credit sourced from long-term private capital such as insurers.

Japan's mergers and acquisitions market is set to maintain buoyant growth momentum into 2026, with increasing deal sizes supported by innovative financing structures involving private capital, a Goldman Sachs executive said. As Japan's largest companies streamline business portfolios and target growth investments, financing structures that tap the vast pool of private capital are set to bring more deals over the line, David Dubner, chief operating officer of global M&A and head of M&A structuring, said in an interview with Reuters. These "high-grade" financing models combine equity and debt with private credit sourced from long-term private capital such as insurers.

Unilever is allocating about 1.5 billion euros ($1.74 billion) a year for mergers and acquisitions, focusing heavily on deals in the United States, CEO Fernando Fernandez said on Tuesday. The group finalised the demerger of its ice cream business as The Magnum Ice Cream Company listed in Amsterdam on Monday and Fernandez, speaking at an event hosted by JPMorgan, said Unilever's second-half operating margin after the separation would be at least 19.5%, up from 18.5% including ice cream. ($1 = 0.8597 euros)

Japan's Seven & i is working on several initiatives that include potential M&A deals and partnerships aimed at leading to substantial growth, Chief Financial Officer Yoshimichi Maruyama said on Friday. The Japanese retailer behind 7-Eleven convenience stores aims to demonstrate to investors its ability to grow after Canada's Couche-Tard withdrew a $46 billion offer in July. Seven & i has said it will pursue a listing of its North American convenience store subsidiary by the second half of 2026, and will buy back about 2 trillion yen ($13 billion) worth of shares through fiscal year 2030 .

Global mergers and acquisitions activity grew 10% in the first nine months of 2025 compared with the same period last year, extending a gradual recovery despite uncertainty over U.S. tariff policies and geopolitical conflict, a study showed on Tuesday. The Boston Consulting Group Global M&A Report showed the deal volume rose to $1.938 trillion from January to September compared with $1.763 trillion in the same nine months of 2024. It marked the second consecutive increase and was the highest total over the period since 2022, when the first nine months' activity was worth $2.17 trillion.

Swiss drugmaker Novartis on Sunday said it agreed to acquire U.S. biotech firm Avidity Biosciences for about $12 billion in cash, as the company looks to bolster its portfolio of treatments for rare muscle disorders. As per the terms of the deal, Avidity stockholders will receive $72 per share in cash, representing a premium of 46% to the company's closing on Friday. Bloomberg News reported on the deal earlier, citing a person familiar with the matter. Novartis has been proactively striking deals this year to address the impending patent cliff for some of its blockbuster drugs, including Entresto for heart failure, Xolair for asthma and Cosentyx for autoimmune diseases.

BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is nearing a $38 billion deal, inclusive of debt, to acquire utility group AES, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing people briefed on the matter. Utilities benefit from a surge in power demand driven by artificial intelligence and data centres, prompting companies and investors across the board to strike deals with them. Talks between GIP and Virginia-based AES were at an advanced stage, although they could still fall through, according to the FT report. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. GIP, an infrastructure investment fund, declined to comment to the Financial Times. AES declined to comment, while GIP did not respond to a Reuters' request for comment outside regular business hours. AES, which surpassed Wall Street estimates for its second-quarter profit in July, has experienced significant growth in its renewables unit over the past year. This expansion has been fueled by a global push for cleaner sources of power generation, coinciding with projections that U.S. power consumption will reach record levels.

Dutch brewer Heineken said on Monday it will buy the beverage and retail businesses of Costa Rica's Florida Ice and Farm Company for $3.2 billion in cash, boosting its presence across Central America. Heineken will gain ownership of Costa Rica's century-old beer "Imperial" through the deal, as well as a soft drink business with its own brands and a PepsiCo bottling license. The deal comes months after Heineken warned that volumes would be softer than expected for the remainder of the year and opted not to raise its annual profit outlook, citing volatility, including from U.S. trade tariffs. The world's no. 2 brewer will buy the remaining 75% stake it does not already own in Distribuidora La Florida, FIFCO's beverage, food and retail division, which includes more than 300 outlets in Costa Rica, as well as operations in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. oil and gas sector more than quadrupled last year despite softer commodity prices as energy companies boosted spending to improve efficiency and profits, according to an Ernst & Young study published on Tuesday. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The jump in dealmaking marks a shift in strategy after years of focusing on shareholder returns over growth as commodity prices retreated from their 2022 high. CONTEXT The sector-wide consolidation has been led by a handful of megadeals by large players, including Exxon Mobil, Diamondback Energy and ConocoPhillips. KEY QUOTE Companies flush with cash were focused on driving efficiency through scale, said Bruce On, partner at EY's strategy and energy transactions group. “It’s a relook at process, tools, workforce and everything around your operations,” On said. BY THE NUMBERS Leading energy companies spent $206.6 billion on mergers and acquisitions in 2024, up from $47.9 billion the previous year, according to the Ernst & Young study. Oil and gas companies cut spending on dividends and share repurchase payments by about 25% last year to $29.2 billion. Money spent on tapping oil and gas also fell slightly, with exploration and development expenditure down 7% year on year at $85.5 billion.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday revoked a 2021 executive order on promoting competition in the US economy issued by his predecessor Joe Biden, the White House said. The move by Republican Trump further unwinds a signature initiative by Biden, a Democrat, to crack down on anti-competitive practices in sectors from agriculture to drugs and labor. Justice department backs ‘America First Antitrust’ The Justice Department welcomed Trump’s revocation of the order, saying it was pursuing an “America First Antitrust” approach focused on free markets instead of what it called the “overly prescriptive and burdensome approach” of the Biden administration.

Global dealmaking has reached $2.6 trillion, the highest for the first seven months of the year since the 2021 pandemic-era peak, as a quest for growth in corporate boardrooms and the impact of a surge in AI activity has overcome the uncertainty caused by U.S. tariffs. The number of transactions to August 1 is 16% lower than the same time last year, but their value is 28% higher, according to Dealogic data, boosted by U.S. megadeals valued at more than $10 billion. They include Union Pacific Corp's proposed $85 billion acquisition of small rival Norfolk Southern and OpenAI's $40 billion funding round led by Softbank Group. The upsurge will be a relief to bankers who began the year with expectations the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump would lead to a wave of consolidation. Instead, his trade tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty made companies pause until renewed confidence in corporate boardrooms and the U.S. administration's anti-trust agenda changed the mood. "What you're seeing in terms of deal rationale for transactions right now is that it’s heavily growth-motivated, and it’s increasing," Andre Veissid, EY Global Financial Services Strategy and Transactions Leader, told Reuters. "Whether it’s artificial intelligence, the change in the regulatory environment, we see our clients not wanting to be left behind in that race and that’s driving activity."