Applying Generative AI to the M&A Process


I recently came across a quote regarding AI in the professional world and the sentiment was basically this: Rather than being replaced by AI, a person is more likely to be replaced by a peer that is able to use AI to perform their job more efficiently. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly being adopted in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) workflows, with a majority of organizations having moved past the experimentation phase and into execution. A recent Big Four study, based on a survey of 1,000 senior corporate and private equity (PE) M&A leaders, highlights the speed of adoption and the challenges that remain.

Key Adoption Facts and Figures

  • High Integration Rate: 86% of responding organizations have integrated GenAI into their M&A workflows. Of those, 65% did so within the past year.
  • Significant Investment: 83% of GenAI adopters have invested $1 million or more in the technology specifically for their M&A teams. This includes 88% of private equity firms and 77% of corporate organizations.
  • Widespread Use: Approximately 40% of organizations say they use GenAI in more than half of their deals.
  • Future Impact: Looking ahead, 83% of organizations expect GenAI to have a moderate or significant impact on M&A decision-making. Specifically, 35% anticipate a "significant impact" and 48% a "moderate impact" on decision-making within two years.

GenAI Across the M&A Life Cycle

GenAI sees the most traction in the pre-sign stages of the M&A life cycle.

M&A Stage                                                     Percentage of Adopters Actively Using GenAI

M&A Strategy & Market Assessment             40%

Due Diligence                                                  35%

Target Identification & Screening                   35%

Post-deal Integration & Value Realization      32%    

Deal Execution                                                32%    

Valuation                                                         32%    

  • Top Use Cases: 48% of GenAI adopters use it to generate initial drafts of legal documents and regulatory findings. Also, 41% use it during due diligence to analyze financial and operational data against benchmarks.

Challenges and Adoption Strategies

The primary barriers to broader adoption center on data, reliability, and compliance.

Top Barriers and Concerns

Area of Concern                                        Percentage of Respondents

Data security                                               67%

Data quality & availability                         65%

GenAI model reliability & accuracy          64%

Ethical and bias concerns                           62%    

Regulatory & compliance                          61%

Initial costs & budget constraints              56%

Lack of internal expertise & talent            54%


Deployment Strategies

Organizations are predominantly partnering externally or developing internal platforms.

  • For 32% of firms the most common approach is developing an organization-wide, cross-department GenAI platform.
  • 25% of M&A outfits partnering with established technology providers to customize tools is the second most common.
  • 57% of organizations are investing in workforce training and upskilling to prepare teams for GenAI integration.

Overall, GenAI can basically be viewed as a "powerful co-pilot" that enhances—rather than replaces— the unique value M&A professionals bring.

Sources:

Deloitte, 2025, M&A Generative AI Study
SRS Acquiom, 2025, M&A Deal Terms Study

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