KPMG’s Liz Claydon on resilience within the UK M&A market
Even as the UK deals market seems to be in a sustained slowdown, some experts believe there is a silver-lining to the situation. According to a recent interview with KPMG’s Liz Claydon, regulatory changes are actually easing, meaning that foreign investment is better than many might expect.
Speaking to Management Today, the KPMG partner said, “The amount of shocks we’ve gone through over the last five years…starting at Covid and now including the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, US tariffs and the country’s relationship with China, inflation here in the UK. It’s literally been one thing after another.”
Many markets have struggled in the first half of 2025 thanks to these conditions. In the first six months of the year, for example, recent EY research found that total IPO proceeds in Europe reached €4.0 billion driven by 16 IPOs in Q1 raising €3.1 billion – a considerable fall from the same period in 2024, which saw €11.5 billion raised.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market for the first half of 2025 recorded a total deal value of £57.3 billion. According to PwC’s latest Global M&A Industry Trends report, this represents a 12.3% decline compared to £65.3 billion in the same period last year.
Despite the media narrative around these figures, however, Claydon claimed that the UK deals market wasn’t actually “too terrible”.
New trends
In particular, she pointed out that she feels the challenges that come with regulatory change have eased a little. With a number of successful deals currently going ahead, there may still be a strong end to the year for M&A – though not yet at pre-Covid levels. This possibility has been buoyed by foreign investment into the UK, which is “doing OK” in a number of sectors, including healthcare and technology.
For example, Claydon commented that life sciences firms have three priorities which may drive further deals. To invest in resources and thought leadership; to work with global clients throughout the entirety of the deal process and help them realise value; and provide support for clients’ AI strategies.
Claydon is no stranger to making the best of tricky situations herself. The 34-year KPMG veteran became both UK and global lead of KPMG’s deal advisory practice, but just nine months later the pandemic hit, which made the deals market “pretty bumpy for a while”. But the difficulties helped her to learn to adapt – and to help her clients do the same.
Resilience culture
Speaking on the way KPMG has become more resilient itself, she added, “[Uncertainty] does give you a jolt, but once you carry out scenario planning you can build your strategy around that. We haven’t become immune to disruption, but it has become the norm and you really have to step up as a leader. For about two years now, [KPMG’s heads of deal advisory] have been saying ‘the next quarter is going to get better’ and there is a lot of evidence which points to that.”
Since 2023, she has been solely leading the global advisory firm and is also vice chair for KPMG in the UK. And while she has been witness to even more macro shocks impacting the deals sector since then, she also cites the pace of change of technology as something which is going to have a significant impact on strategic ambition, workforce planning and talent acquisition . This is “absolutely front and centre” in the minds of senior leaders within the sector, she claimed, something which may also see things turn a corner.
To that end, KPMG is leveraging AI to support clients as they strive to meet their acquisition targets. Thanks to AI, the firm says it can analyse vastly different data sources, forming easy-to-digest formats in a matter of days – though a human touch is still very much needed. That’s a personal touch she remains happy to supply herself, looking ahead.
Clayton added, “I’ve always been focused on advising clients – it’s what makes me tick. It took me about 24 hours to realise that running the deals business was kind of my dream job.”
