BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Michel Bonne, Hannelore Matthys and Virginie Lescot, Van Bael & Bellis
Van Bael & Bellis Glaverbel Building Chaussée de la Hulpe 166 Terhulpsesteenweg B-1170 Brussels Belgium Tel: +32 (0)2 647 73 50 Fax: +32 (0)2 640 64 99 Email: brussels@vbb.com Web: www.vbb.com
1. Trends 1.1 M&A Market
At the same time, the recent and current market cir - cumstances have resulted in an increase in distressed and restructuring-focused M&A and insolvency and bankruptcy procedures. 1.2 Key Trends As is usual in Belgium, the SME segment of the mar - ket accounted for the majority of deals. This is due to the fact that family-owned businesses are still at the heart of the Belgian economy (and even listed entities are often still controlled by a group of fam - ily shareholders). There has been continued interest from international private equity players in the Belgian market (see also 1.1 M&A Market ) and buy-and-build strategies continue to be many investors’ preferred route. It should be noted that ESG and artificial intel - ligence have become increasingly important topics for investors and the newly transposed CSRD will further reinforce it as a critical factor in investment decisions. For both “mid-market” and “big-ticket” transac - tions, securing warranty and indemnity insurance has become common market practice (whereas until a few years ago this was still exceptional in the Belgian M&A market, which can probably be explained by the fact that the market is characterised by small and mid-
Historically, M&A activity in Belgium has shown a consistent upward trajectory, yet this trend has expe - rienced occasional interruptions due to various fac - tors including global geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges. In 2025, the M&A landscape was affected by challeng - ing conditions, such as the increased interest rates, ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the increasing geopolitical uncertainty, continued regional instabil - ity in the Middle East, energy transition challenges, an aging population, turbulent international dynamics and adoption of economic tariffs, and structural labour market issues. The Belgian federal government that was formed in 2025 and the Federal Coalition Agree - ment for 2025–2029 (which focuses on addressing key economic, social and environmental challenges and aims to introduce significant reforms) also con - tinued to present both challenges and opportunities that could impact M&A activity in Belgium. However, as interest rates (although still rather high) stabilise, and the need for strategic, innovative and technology-driven acquisitions and investments increases (including at portfolio company level), which may also create more exit opportunities for private equity funds, a rise in Belgian M&A activity is expected again in 2026 (although deal volumes are projected to remain below the peak levels seen during the post- pandemic period).
sized transactions). 1.3 Key Industries
As mentioned in 1.2 Key Trends , the Belgian M&A landscape is marked by a majority of smaller and medium-sized transactions, in relation to which pub - licly available information is rather limited. Overall, the
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