Is there a risk of a sell-off?: Foreign buyers are taking over German companies in droves

Investors from abroad are buying German companies in series. The volume of deals has more than doubled within a year. Is this a cause for concern? A study sees it differently.

Frankfurt/Main. German companies are more popular with foreign buyers as takeover targets than they have been for a long time. In the period from the third quarter of 2025 to the second quarter of 2026, the volume of cross-border takeovers of German companies more than doubled, according to an analysis by the consulting firm KPMG - by 134 percent to almost $129 billion.

At the same time, the number of such transactions climbed from 897 to 926. According to the study, which is based on figures from the financial data group LSEG, 18 deals with a volume of more than one billion dollars were announced. US investors are particularly active in this country; They were therefore alone behind ten billion-dollar deals. German companies are “at the top of the shopping list” for many US investors.

“Germany in the focus of foreign investors”

“The next wave of artificial intelligence will not only be decided in the world’s major technology centers,” explains KPMG expert Michael Buhl. Germany is also becoming the focus of foreign investors. “Many German companies combine technological expertise, industrial excellence and high-quality data.” The relatively attractive valuations of German companies and the prospect of billions in government spending on infrastructure and defense would also provide tailwind. The last time there was a similarly strong interest from US buyers in German companies was in 2007 in the wake of the privatization of cable networks.

US investors keep hitting Germany. The Baden-Württemberg fan specialist EBM-Papst, for example, is going to the US group Madison Air for around 4.8 billion euros. BASF Coatings, the paint business of the Ludwigshafen chemical giant, was taken over by the US investor Carlyle. In addition, the financial investor Bain Capital agreed to take over the majority of the Augsburg-based ship and power plant engine manufacturer Everllence. And the North Hesse Viessmann Group sold its heat pump business to the US group Carrier.

Do German companies benefit from takeovers?

KPMG expert Buhl does not see the strong foreign interest as a sell-out, but rather as an accelerator of structural change. For example, the Berlin delivery service Delivery Hero could gain access to its platform through its takeover by the ride-hailing company Uber. And at Ebm-Papst, a sale would open up access to the US and data center market.

At the same time, German companies are also investing more abroad, the KPMG study shows. The number of foreign takeovers rose from 593 to 622 during the period under review, and the volume grew by 15 percent to $42.9 billion.

KPMG expects a strong increase in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Germany. Domestic deals are estimated to increase by 22 percent to around 1,300 transactions by 2028, and takeovers of German companies by foreign buyers by 13 percent to 1,039 deals. The driver is the upheaval caused by artificial intelligence (AI), which is revolutionizing many business models.

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