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Number of M&As under review in Korea down in 2025, but total value up 30%: Watchdog

Published: 04 Feb. 2026, 14:39 Updated: 04 Feb. 2026, 16:49

The logo of the Fair Trade Commission [NEWS2]

Korea's antitrust regulator said on Wednesday that the number of reviewed mergers and acquisitions (M&As) declined from a year earlier in 2025, but the total value of the deals surged nearly 30 percent, indicating an increase in large-scale transactions.

According to data released by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), the number of reviewed M&A cases fell to 590 in 2025, down 26 percent from 798 cases the previous year.

In contrast, the combined value of the M&As rose 30 percent on year to 358.3 trillion won ($246.8 billion) last year, suggesting that relatively large corporate deals were more prevalent.

“By industry, merger activity was particularly active in sectors related to the AI value chain and K-culture industries,” Shin Yong-ho, an FTC official, said.

The number of reviewed M&As involving foreign companies totaled 174 cases in 2025, with a combined value of 305.9 trillion won, accounting for 85.4 percent of the total deal value.

Of those, M&As between foreign companies alone amounted to 131 cases, with a total value of 295 trillion won, the watchdog said.

The number of cases subject to in-depth review rose to 50 in 2025, up from 36 the previous year, reflecting the need for closer scrutiny of potential anticompetitive effects, the commission said.

The FTC said it conducted more intensive reviews on mergers with significant potential market impact and strengthened postapproval monitoring of cases in which corrective measures were imposed.

Among the cases reviewed, the FTC imposed corrective measures in three cases, including the conditional approval of the merger between streaming platforms Tving and Wavve.

Yonhap