Swiss M&A Market: Navigating 2025 with AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly gaining ground among Zurich’s M&A professionals, who recognize its potential to enhance human expertise.

Since 2018, SS&C Intralinks has invested in AI technologies such as large language models (LLMs) and bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT). These innovations are reshaping the transaction lifecycle, making every stage faster, smarter and more secure.

Although AI is transforming due diligence and deal sourcing across the M&A landscape, in 2025 market uncertainty and shifting macroeconomic conditions have slowed the pace of deals closures. How are Swiss dealmakers balancing these headwinds while seizing the opportunities AI creates? To find out, we spoke with three Zurich-based M&A experts about the state of the market, their adoption of new technologies, and the road ahead.

Special thanks to Brice Bollinger, Raymund Bareuther and Hans-Jakob Diem for sharing their insights.

Brice Bolinger, Head of M&A Switzerland, UBS

What is your current view of the M&A market in Switzerland in H1, and how do you expect it to develop through the end of the year?
After strong momentum going into 2025, the tariffs discussion and macroeconomic developments temporarily slowed M&A activity. While far-advanced projects managed to reach signing, newer situations were delayed due to uncertainty. However, activity has picked up significantly again over the summer.

Which new technologies is your team adopting to support day-to-day deal sourcing and execution?
We developed an M&A co-pilot tool that generates buy-side ideas and identifies potential buyers in sell-side situations. We are also reviewing newly available AI-based M&A tools and running several pilots to further enhance productivity.

In what ways is your team leveraging artificial intelligence to support these tasks?
Our M&A co-pilot tool screens relevant acquisition targets that match a buyer’s M&A strategy. It analyses a database of over 300,000 companies in less than half a minute. It also analyses and compares management tone in prepared presentations and Q&A situations, helping identify potential targets of activist campaigns. We also leverage UBS’s broader Microsoft Copilot licenses to enhance productivity and simplify workflows.

What are your main concerns about AI adoption moving forward in the M&A space?
Currently, confidentiality limits applicability. We also notice that certain relevant areas in daily M&A work — including financial modelling — are not yet sufficiently advanced.

Raymund Bareuther, Managing Partner, Everstride

What is your current view of the M&A market in Switzerland in H1, and how do you expect it to develop through the end of the year?
The Swiss M&A market remained resilient in H1, especially in sectors like tech, software, and healthcare. Looking ahead, we expect deal flow to pick up in H2 as confidence improves, but financing conditions remain more selective than in previous years. This means we’ll likely see a focus on high-quality, well-structured deals rather than a surge in overall volume.

Which new technologies is your team adopting to support day-to-day deal sourcing and execution?
We are actively integrating advanced data analytics platforms and digital collaboration tools to streamline deal sourcing and execution. These technologies help us identify opportunities faster and manage transactions more efficiently, giving us a competitive edge in a fast-moving market.

In what ways is your team leveraging artificial intelligence to support these tasks?
AI-driven insights allow us to process vast datasets quickly, uncover hidden patterns, and make smarter, data-backed decisions throughout the deal lifecycle.

What are your main concerns about AI adoption moving forward in the M&A space?
Our main concern with AI in M&A is ensuring data privacy and maintaining the human touch in negotiations. While AI boosts efficiency, over-reliance could risk missing nuanced deal dynamics and relationship-building, which remain critical for successful transactions.

Hans-Jakob Diem, Partner, Walder Wyss

What is your current view of the M&A market in Switzerland in H1, and how do you expect it to develop through the end of the year?
We feel that the M&A market in Switzerland in H1 2025 has been comparatively robust, although the level of new transactions has been lower than in H1 2024. As in other jurisdictions, the appetite of strategic and financial sellers and buyers to launch new processes was significantly curbed by the tariff discussions in the U.S. However, markets seem to have adapted to these uncertainties. We observed a noticeable increase in inquiries toward the end of H1 2025.

Which new technologies is your team adopting to support day-to-day deal sourcing and execution?
We increasingly use AI tools in our daily workflows, such as Microsoft’s Copilot.

In what ways is your team leveraging artificial intelligence to support these tasks?
AI, especially solutions based on large language models, is being increasingly used in our team. From machine translations of documents to the production of issues lists and contract drafting, these tools enable us to work more efficiently and faster than before. However, all machine-produced outputs require careful human review before they can be reliably used. In due diligence, we feel that current market products have not yet had the impact many expected. It remains to be seen whether this will change when data room providers roll out their proprietary solutions.

What are your main concerns about AI adoption moving forward in the M&A space?
Our main concern is how we will educate young associates in the future. While manual due diligence or contract drafting from scratch will soon seem outdated, these tasks have long served as valuable training for early-career lawyers. It remains to be seen how future generations will acquire foundational legal skills.

Zurich’s leading dealmakers describe a Swiss M&A market that is navigating uncertainty with measured confidence. While tariffs and macroeconomic shifts created caution in H1, activity is now regaining momentum as market sentiment improves. AI is emerging as a true strategic enabler, driving efficiency across the deal lifecycle. Its greatest value lies in time savings, sharper decision-making and the capacity to process vast volumes of data without compromising confidentiality or security. Safeguarding sensitive information remains paramount, and AI’s role is to accelerate speed and precision while ensuring every transaction remains secure.

The Swiss M&A market is ready for AI tools that are not just add-ons but fully integrated into the transaction lifecycle. That’s why at SS&C Intralinks, we are excited to introduce DealCentre AI™ — the only AI-powered dealmaking platform built from the ground up to embed intelligence across every stage of a deal. From smart Q&A suggestions and streamlined document review, to automated data extraction and even basic financial calculations, DealCentre AI delivers exactly what Swiss dealmakers have been asking for: faster, more accurate execution without compromising confidentiality or human oversight.

In an environment where speed and precision win deals, DealCentre AI is designed to give dealmakers the competitive edge.

Interested in learning more? Get in touch with us today.