The Rise of AI in M&A – Using AI to Sell A Company On More Attractive Terms, Faster

Mergers and acquisitions are undergoing a quiet revolution. Artificial intelligence is no longer just hype – it’s transforming how deals are sourced, evaluated, and executed. For founders eyeing an exit and the advisors helping them, AI has shifted from a futuristic add-on to a day-to-day competitive necessity​linkedin.com. Why? Because in modern M&A, success hinges on speed, precision, and insight. This newsletter explores how AI is reshaping sell-side M&A, from big-picture trends to on-the-ground use cases. We’ll also look at real examples (straight from LinkedIn’s dealmakers) and list upcoming events to keep you ahead of the curve. Let’s dive in.

Macro View: AI is Reshaping the M&A Landscape

The macro trend is clear: AI is changing how deals get done. Major banks and boutiques alike are investing heavily in AI to streamline M&A. Goldman Sachs has hundreds of developers building AI tools, and JPMorgan is exploring 400+ AI use cases​prospectrockpartners.com. According to Bain & Co., 21% of M&A practitioners now leverage generative AI, up from 16% in 2023 – and over half expect to integrate AI into their workflows by 2027​fundstech.com. Deloitte reports 60%+ of M&A professionals foresee AI and machine learning playing a key role in future deals​linkedin.com. In short, AI in M&A has moved past experimentation into real adoption.

This shift is already visible in deal activity. In 2024, the number of mega-deals (>$1B) climbed by 17%, and further growth is expected in 2025​fundstech.com. Deal teams are leaning on AI-driven efficiencies to handle this volume and complexity. As Victor Basta of Artis Partners puts it, failing to explore AI’s capabilities means falling behind competitors​fundstech.com. However, AI’s role isn’t to replace human judgment – it’s to supercharge it. “AI can widen the aperture, generate advantaged insights, and accelerate decision-making. It won’t replace human judgment – but it can strip away the drudgery,” notes Chuck Whitten, Bain & Co.’s digital M&A lead​linkedin.com. In other words, AI is enabling faster, smarter deal-making by handling the heavy lifting, so humans can focus on high-level strategy.

Notably, sell-side M&A is embracing AI to drive better exits. A recent LinkedIn analysis observed that AI is transforming the sell-side process by offering enhanced due diligence, predictive analytics to anticipate buyer behavior, and smarter valuation models​linkedin.com. In today’s market, leveraging AI can mean a broader buyer list, more tailored pitches, and ultimately a higher exit valuation. The message is unmistakable: AI isn’t optional in M&A anymore – it’s becoming part of the playbook.

AI from Intern to Manager: Speed, Precision & Trust

One of AI’s biggest impacts is how it productises the work of junior and mid-level deal teams – from the grunt work an intern might do, to analyst research, up through some manager-level tasks. The result? A dramatic boost in speed and precision, without sacrificing trust in the process.

• Research & Sourcing (AI as the tireless intern): Instead of analysts spending weeks combing databases and networks for potential buyers or targets, AI can scan millions of data points (company filings, news, LinkedIn, etc.) in minutes to identify under-the-radar prospects that fit your criteria​linkedin.com. It’s like having a 24/7 analyst that never sleeps. The payoff is huge – sourcing cycles cut from weeks to hours, and high-fit buyers that a traditional approach might miss​linkedin.com. One platform’s AI engine, for example, tapped 45 million companies and 190 million profiles to surface 51 high-fit buyers for a sale – a breadth “no traditional advisor can match”​file-d8rgqtdwezx5qpmze8hzsc​file-d8rgqtdwezx5qpmze8hzsc. This kind of breadth instills confidence that no stone is left unturned.

• Due Diligence & Analysis (AI as the diligent analyst): Diligence is often a bottleneck in deals, requiring painstaking review of legal, financial, and operational documents. AI now shoulders much of this load. Tools can read and summarize lengthy contracts and data rooms in seconds, flagging anomalies or red flags for human review​linkedin.com​linkedin.com. For instance, AI document review systems (e.g. Luminance, Kira) can analyze thousands of pages in minutes, identifying key clauses or compliance issues​linkedin.com. This accelerates diligence by 40–60% while improving accuracy and consistency​linkedin.com. Junior bankers at UBS have already seen efficiency gains of ~30% from such automations​prospectrockpartners.com. Crucially, AI doesn’t get tired or skip details, so data reliability goes up – building trust that the analysis is thorough​linkedin.com. Financial modeling is faster too: AI-driven models update assumptions on the fly and catch errors, reducing tedious spreadsheet work and “analyst fatigue”​linkedin.com. In short, AI frees up analysts to focus on insights, not manual minutiae.

• Marketing & Outreach (AI as the efficient deal manager): Crafting the perfect pitch book or buyer outreach used to take teams days of work. Now AI writing assistants can draft Confidential Information Memoranda (CIMs), teasers, and emails in a fraction of the time. In fact, generative AI can produce first-draft CIMs, market summaries, and tailored outreach content on demand​linkedin.com, which the deal team can then refine. This ensures messaging is consistent and data-backed. AI can even personalise buyer outreach – for example, by analysing a buyer’s recent acquisitions or public statements and suggesting angles that will resonate. One AI platform advertises the ability to auto-generate valuation materials, information memos and even handle personalised buyer communications​dealflowagent.com​dealflowagent.com. Imagine an AI agent drafting a bespoke intro email to each of 100 prospective buyers identified, while you sleep. By morning, your team just reviews and hits send. The speed here builds trust with sellers that the process is moving swiftly, and with buyers who get timely, well-informed info.

From preparation to outreach, these AI “digital workers” augment each layer of the deal team. An intern’s list-building, an analyst’s document review, a manager’s slide deck prep – all of these can be accelerated by AI by an order of magnitude. One M&A professional quipped that if an AI model makes a human’s process “80% faster and better, that’s a huge win”​linkedin.com. The human is still in the loop to verify and guide (ensuring quality and judgement), but their time is now focused on higher-value work. Speed and precision up; risk and grunt work down. Little wonder advisors are increasingly trusting AI for heavy lifting – it delivers results they can confidently stand behind.

AI in Action: Examples from the Deal Frontlines

It’s helpful to see how M&A professionals are actually using AI today. Here are a few real examples and insights shared in recent months:

• Sell-Side Process Automation: Mahnoor Naeem, a sell-side M&A advisor, noted on LinkedIn that AI is “transforming the sell-side M&A process” by streamlining due diligence, using predictive analytics to time the market, and sharpening valuation scenarios​linkedin.com. These capabilities help sellers anticipate buyer behavior and position for the best deal.

• Removing the “Drudgery”: Chuck Whitten, Bain & Co.’s digital strategy head, observed that AI is reshaping M&A across sourcing, diligence, and execution. It “strips away the drudgery” of data crunching and allows deal teams to focus on strategy and value creation, giving firms that embrace AI a real edge​linkedin.com. In other words, the boring work gets automated, and humans concentrate on negotiation and insight.

• Faster Buyer Outreach: Troy Pospisil, CEO of Ontra, shared how AI legal tech is speeding up sell-side deal flow by automating NDAs and contracts. By managing the NDA process with an AI tool, sellers can get buyers through paperwork and into the data room faster, with lower legal spend​linkedin.com. This frees up the deal team to spend more time talking to buyers and less time chasing documents – ultimately leading to better outcomes for the seller.

Each of these examples shows AI delivering practical value – whether it’s shaving weeks off analysis, or making the sale process smoother for buyers and sellers. Notably, the tone from practitioners is not “AI will replace us” but rather “AI is helping us deliver better service and results.” It’s about working smarter. As one dealmaker commented, tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity have been “invaluable for research,” helping quickly pull financial data via integrations​linkedin.com. The takeaway: across the M&A industry, people are finding creative ways to leverage AI – and those that do are seeing real benefits in speed, insight, and deal momentum.

People + AI: Why Hybrid Teams Win

Despite AI’s rapid advances, M&A remains very much a human-driven business at its core. Deals are built on relationships, judgment calls, and trust between parties – things that no algorithm can fully replicate. The consensus among experts is that the best outcomes come from hybrid teams: combining savvy advisors with AI agents working in tandem.

AI can handle the heavy analytics, but humans still excel at the “soft” side of deals. Victor Basta cautions that “M&A can’t be fully automated… too much choreography and risk” are involved ​fundstech.com. Complex negotiations, nuanced strategic decisions, and the creative problem-solving required to bridge gaps between a buyer and seller – those are firmly in the human domain. “Strategic M&A is still very much a human endeavour… establishing strong relationships with potential targets remains essential, and this isn’t an area where GenAI can lead in any meaningful way,” Basta emphasizes​fundstech.com.

The role of AI then is as an enhancer, not a replacer. It’s the ultimate sidekick: crunching data, suggesting insights, ensuring nothing is missed – while the lead advisors drive the strategy and client interaction. This hybrid model can produce superior outcomes. For example, an AI platform might trawl far and wide to find an obscure overseas buyer that a human advisor wouldn’t know – extending the reach of the process​file-d8rgqtdwezx5qpmze8hzsc. But it still takes the advisor’s finesse to approach that buyer, pitch the story, and close the deal. The combination of “unrivaled data coverage + human judgment” creates a one-two punch that outperforms either alone.

Indeed, firms built on a blend of AI and experienced bankers boast that they deliver results traditional teams can’t. By leveraging AI discovery engines, one boutique claims it provides buyer reach no conventional advisor can match – yet it still relies on expert dealmakers to guide the client through negotiations. AI also adds transparency and confidence for clients. When an advisor uses AI to back up their valuation with robust data, or to show a seller dozens of buyer candidates globally, it builds trust that the process is exhaustive and well-informed.

To make the most of this hybrid model, many advisors are retooling their teams. Junior bankers are being trained to work alongside AI tools (prompting them, interpreting outputs), and senior bankers are focusing on higher-level relationship and strategy work ​prospectrockpartners.com. The culture is shifting to “AI-augmented advisory.” As one article put it, “AI is to modern M&A what Excel was to traditional finance” ​linkedin.com – a fundamental tool. But just as Excel didn’t eliminate financiers, AI isn’t eliminating the need for human advisors; it’s elevating their role.

Upcoming M&A Events for Founders & Dealmakers (UK & US)

For those looking to sharpen their M&A strategy and learn more about trends (including AI’s impact), here are a few upcoming events in 2025 geared toward experienced founders and dealmakers (no early-stage pitch fests here). These conferences and forums offer networking and the latest insights in the M&A world:

• M&A Summit 2025 (London, 7 May 2025) – An exclusive half-day forum on the latest international M&A trends, hosted by Taylor Wessing​taylorwessing.com. Leading companies, investors and advisors will discuss how major deals are shaping the landscape (with breakouts on politics of dealmaking, family office M&A, sector trends, etc.). A great event for UK founders planning an exit to hear market insights.

• Smart Business Dealmakers Conference – A series of US conferences connecting entrepreneurs, investors, and M&A advisors in top cities. These events focus on middle-market business sales and acquisitions. For example, upcoming dates include Nashville on 1 May 2025 and Atlanta on 14 May 2025​network.smartbusinessdealmakers.com. Each conference is a day of panels and networking to help owners meet buyers, learn from recent deal stories, and prep for their own liquidity events.

• M&A Source Spring Conference 2025 (Nashville, 1 May 2025) – A conference for lower mid-market M&A professionals and intermediaries, featuring workshops on deal negotiation, valuation, and exit planning​dealroom.net. Founders can network with experienced M&A advisors here. (M&A Source Fall Conference is slated for 9–12 Nov 2025 in Phoenix, AZ​dealroom.net, for those planning further ahead.)

• AM&AA Summer Conference 2025 (Chicago, 15–16 July 2025) – The Alliance of M&A Advisors’ annual summit, bringing together M&A experts, private equity buyers, and service providers​dealroom.net. It’s an opportunity for seasoned entrepreneurs and their advisors to learn best practices on selling companies, and to connect with buyers in the US market.

Each of these events will dive into current M&A drivers and likely touch on how technology (AI included) is changing dealmaking. For a founder contemplating a sale or an advisor refining their approach, attending one or two of these could spark new ideas or connections that make the difference in achieving a successful deal.

Bottom Line: The rise of AI in M&A is real, and it’s accelerating. Sell-side teams that harness AI are sourcing more buyers, closing diligence faster, and crafting data-driven deal stories that maximize value. At the same time, the irreplaceable human elements of M&A – relationships, creativity, trust – remain front and center. The savvy play is not AI or people, but AI with people. Founders and boutique advisors can punch above their weight by combining their expertise with AI’s capabilities. In a market where speed and insight win, those who embrace AI as part of the M&A playbook will source more attractive deals, execute with confidence, and ultimately close stronger exits. AI in M&A isn’t a nice-to-have anymore – it’s rapidly becoming the new standard for competitive dealmaking .​linkedin.com