DLS Marine, a McLean Group companyDLS Marine: The Marine Practice of The McLean Group
The McLean Group
Market Report

Q1 2026 Mergers & Acquisitions Market Update

April 13, 2026

The McLean Group's Q1 2026 M&A Insider Report tracks deal activity across Defense & Government, Physical & Cyber Security, Critical Infrastructure, and Maritime. Q1 was the strongest quarter on record for Defense M&A with 104 closed transactions, headlined by Arcline's $2.2B acquisition of Novaria Holdings and VSE Corporation's $2.15B acquisition of Precision Aviation Group. Cyber Security saw $57B+ in transaction value led by Google's $32B acquisition of Wiz and Palo Alto Networks' $24.6B acquisition of CyberArk Software, with Cyber/Technology EBITDA multiples reaching 41.3x LTM. Critical Infrastructure closed 48 transactions including Constellation Energy's $28.9B acquisition of Calpine, while Maritime rebounded to 24 transactions in Q1. The full report includes sector commentary, EBITDA valuation multiples, public company benchmarks, and representative transaction data for each sector.[…]

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