M&A Disputes Report 2025

Dealmakers around the world expect to see more mergers and acquisitions (M&A) disputes despite renewed confidence that the deal market will perform better in 2025. Rising geopolitical tensions, ongoing antitrust scrutiny and economic volatility stemming from tariffs could push deals into dispute territory in the coming months. 

Now in its sixth year, BRG’s M&A Disputes Report 2025 draws on insights from BRG experts, qualitative interviews with leading disputes and corporate lawyers, and a survey of more than 200 attorneys, private equity professionals and corporate finance advisors. The report examines how macroeconomic and geopolitical trends are impacting the M&A market across industries and geographies, alongside predictions for how deals and disputes will take shape in the year ahead. 

Key takeaways from this year’s report include: 

• Dealmakers’ attempts to control for fluctuations and risks may have increased dispute exposure. Deal terms like purchase price agreements, put/call options and indemnity provisions were amongst the most prevalent contractual factors in last year’s disputes. Looking ahead, nearly one-third of respondents expect earnout provisions to feature prominently in 2025 disputes. 

• The financial services industry saw a sharp uptick in disputes amidst continued fallout from the 2023 banking crisis. Nearly half of dealmakers surveyed anticipate even more disputes in 2025 as M&A activity picks up and industry regulations relax. 

• Europe, Middle East and Africa is expected to see the most dispute activity among regions due to ongoing regulatory challenges. For the second year in a row, it was the leading region driving increased dispute volumes—particularly among larger deals.  

This year’s survey also incorporates new insights about dealmakers’ preferred dispute resolution venues, from courtrooms to the negotiation table, as well as how private equity involvement in deals is shaping the disputes landscape.