To help you prepare for the year ahead, our team reviewed more than 280 private-target deals that closed between Q1-Q3 2025. Augmenting insights from the 2025 SRS Acquiom M&A Deal Terms Study, this quick read spotlights trends to watch as we enter 2026. Find answers to questions such as:
- How prevalent are earnouts?
- Are jumbo deals (more than $750 million in transaction value) back?
- What is the mix of deal consideration?
- What is the latest with survival periods?
- How is increasingly thorough due diligence affecting post-closing
indemnifications?
See the latest trends related to deal sizes, consideration mix, contingent consideration, and more.
Kip Wallen is a senior director leading the SRS Acquiom thought leadership practice. He leverages his extensive expertise and SRS Acquiom proprietary data to produce resourceful content regularly utilized by market practitioners. Kip has broad experience in M&A and provides guidance on market standards and trends.
Previously, Kip was a Director with the SRS Acquiom Transactional Group, where he collaborated with clients and counsel to negotiate M&A documents including purchase, escrow, payments, and other transactional agreements. Before joining SRS Acquiom, Kip was an attorney with a Denver-based boutique business law firm where he assisted clients with M&A transactions as well as general corporate governance and securities matters.
Kip is an avid supporter of the Colorado Symphony, serving as Treasurer and Trustee. He is an active participant on the American Bar Association’s M&A Committee. In 2016, Kip completed Leadership 20 with the Denver chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth.
Kip received his J.D. from the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver and an M.S. in Economics, B.S. in Economics and B.A. in International Relations from Lehigh University. He is a member of the Colorado bar.