Company buying remains stubbornly weak this year, as a result of trade and other geopolitical tensions. We’ve seen a handful of advisory deals in the first half of 2025, but our expectations of a hot M&A market appear dashed for now.
“The current climate of uncertainty has led many purchasers of Canadian business to adopt a cautious stance, delaying investments and expansion plans,” according to a mid-year report published Wednesday by PwC Canada.
The consultancy reported 996 deals across the Canadian economy between Jan. 1 and May 31, worth a total $134 billion. “We saw declines in inbound and locally sourced deals in Canada,” according to the report,” while acquisitions of companies outside of Canada by Canadian companies increased.”
I asked Jonathan Reimche, deals partner on the private leadership team at PwC Canada on Friday about what his firm is hearing from family offices, given their sophisticated approach to investing. He shared three interesting notes.
First, they’re re-entering the deal flow, albeit gradually. After a couple of years of Covid-driven hesitation, family office deals rose in value by 16% last year. Globally, the total value of family office transactions rose by 14.8%.
Reimche said deal volumes are up about 40% so far this year. “So, smaller deals, but a higher number of them,” he said. A lot of the money is going to startups in transactions valued under $25 million, private equity deals and M&A opportunities. They’re in a position to take a longer-term view than other investors, which may explain the early comeback.
“Family offices do take a different lens to their investing,” Reimche said. “They aren’t driven by the same timelines that either public funds or private equity would be constrained by.”
Second, family offices are partnering with one another on so-called club deals. This allows them to buy into bigger opportunities on a shared-risk basis. According to PwC Canada, these deals grew sharply in popularity between 2016 and 2022 — they made up 71% of family office investments that last year. It has since moderated, to 23% in 2024.
“That is a distinct difference between what the Canadian industry has been doing versus what we see in the global sector,” Reimche said.
Third, these offices have gotten serious about impact investing. That’s a trend in Canada and abroad. PwC Canada reports that ESG investments made up more than half of transactions conducted by family offices globally in 2022. Canadian offices crossed that threshold for the first time last year.
“Health care, education, renewable energy, they have all been attractive sectors that family offices have looked to,” Reimche said. “They’re looking for returns in areas where they can also generative positive impacts on the broader community.”
Reimche told me it would be an overstatement to say that this reflects a view among family offices that impact investments deliver stronger long-term returns — the study didn’t ask that question. Still, there is some voting-with-their-feet going on here that’s worth our attention.