← All editions US M&A Deal Digest: September 17–23, 2026
Published September 24, 2026
21verified deals announced
$7.4B+disclosed deal value
5deals missing one side's counsel
In the week of September 17–23, 2026, Vest tracked 21 verified US M&A deals with more than $7.4 billion in disclosed value. The largest: Royal Caribbean's roughly $3 billion purchase of a 50% stake in Sandals and Beaches Resorts. Kirkland & Ellis led the counsel scoreboard, appearing on 5 deals.
This edition's discussion on LinkedIn → Counsel scoreboard
Published, verified appearances across the 21 deals; buy-side and sell-side counted separately.
| Law firm | Deals | Clients this edition |
|---|
| Kirkland & Ellis | 5 | Royal Caribbean, H.I.G. Capital (MISTRAS), H.I.G. and GDT, Butterfly Equity, Argano |
| Latham & Watkins | 3 | Sandals Group, Flexpoint Ford, Chelsea FC sellers |
| Goodwin | 3 | Softcat (US counsel), Marea Therapeutics, Battery Ventures |
| 2 each | | Clifford Chance, Paul, Weiss |
Latham & Watkins also advised Searchlight Capital, an equity financer in the Priority Technology take-private. Financing roles are not counted.
On 5 of 21 US M&A deals announced September 17–23, 2026, at least one side's legal counsel was never publicly named.
On 4 of them, neither side's was. Tracked weekly on this page.
Deals with disclosed value
Royal Caribbean acquires 50% of Sandals and Beaches Resorts
~$3B for 50%* Sep 23, 2026 Travel and leisure Buy: Kirkland & EllisSell: Latham & Watkins; Jones Day
Royal Caribbean Group agreed to acquire a 50% equity interest in Sandals and Beaches Resorts for approximately $3 billion, about 10 times forward EBITDA, forming a partnership with the Sandals Group. Source: SEC filing
*Structured as a 50/50 joint venture. Included as the week's largest deal. Kirkland & Ellis's own release describes a total enterprise value of about $6 billion; Royal Caribbean's release states only the $3 billion stake price.
Priority Technology Holdings taken private by an investor group led by Thomas Priore
$1.6B EV Sep 21, 2026 Payments Buy: McDermott Will & Schulte (investor group)Sell: Nixon Peabody (company); Paul, Weiss (special committee)
An investor group led by Priority Technology chairman and CEO Thomas Priore, with equity from funds advised by Searchlight Capital Partners, agreed to take Priority private at $8.05 per share in cash, an enterprise value of about $1.6 billion. Source: SEC filing
H.I.G. Capital agrees to sell General Datatech to Softcat
$1.05B EV Sep 17, 2026 IT infrastructure Buy: Slaughter and May; Goodwin (US counsel)Sell: Kirkland & Ellis (H.I.G. and GDT)
H.I.G. Capital agreed to sell Dallas-based IT solutions provider General Datatech to an affiliate of UK-listed Softcat for an enterprise value of $1.05 billion. Source: H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. Capital takes MISTRAS Group private
$866M EV Sep 18, 2026 Industrial services Buy: Kirkland & EllisSell: Morgan Lewis; Troutman Pepper Locke
H.I.G. Capital agreed to take asset-protection services company MISTRAS Group private at $20.35 per share in cash, an enterprise value of about $866 million including debt. Source: SEC filing
Cognex acquires RealSense
~$500M cash Sep 22, 2026 Machine vision and robotics Buy: Foley & Lardner; Arnon, Tadmor-Levy (Israeli law)Sell: Pillsbury
Cognex agreed to acquire RealSense, the depth-sensing and robotic-perception company Intel spun out in 2025, for about $500 million in cash; a retention program and restricted stock units announced alongside are not counted in the value. Source: SEC filing
TransDigm (Extant Aerospace) acquires a rotorcraft, land-systems and business-jet product portfolio
~$240M cash Sep 21, 2026 Aerospace components Counsel: not yet disclosed
TransDigm operating unit Extant Aerospace agreed to acquire a portfolio of commercial rotorcraft, land-systems and business-jet products, including a facility in California, for about $240 million in cash. Source: SEC filing
Bank7 acquires Century Financial Services
~$137.3M Sep 17, 2026 Community banking Buy: Nelson MullinsSell: Otteson Shapiro
Bank7 Corp. agreed to acquire Century Financial Services, parent of New Mexico-based Century Bank, for $70 million in cash plus 1,232,657 Bank7 shares, an implied value of about $137.3 million. Source: SEC filing
Deals with undisclosed value
Qualcomm acquires PickNik
Sep 23, 2026 Robotics software Counsel: not yet disclosed
Qualcomm agreed to acquire Boulder, Colorado-based robotics software company PickNik, announced at ROSCon Toronto; terms were not disclosed. Source: PickNik
Butterfly Equity acquires Sabert
Sep 22, 2026 Food packaging Buy: Kirkland & EllisSell: Simpson Thacher
Los Angeles-based private equity firm Butterfly Equity agreed to acquire Sabert Holding Corp., a New Jersey food-packaging maker; terms were not disclosed. Source: Simpson Thacher
Flexpoint Ford and Shamrock Capital acquire Podium Entertainment
Sep 21, 2026 Audiobook publishing Buy: Latham & Watkins (Flexpoint Ford); Paul, Weiss (Shamrock)Sell: Ballard Spahr
Flexpoint Ford and Shamrock Capital acquired audiobook publisher Podium Entertainment from Presidio Investors, with GoldState Music making a minority investment; terms were not disclosed. Source: Flexpoint Ford
Forge acquires Becker's Healthcare
Sep 22, 2026 B2B media and events Buy: Akin GumpSell: Holland & Knight
Forge, the events and media company owned by Apollo Funds, agreed to acquire Becker's Healthcare from Pamlico Capital; terms were not disclosed. Source: GlobeNewswire
Superior Energy Services acquires Welltec
Sep 22, 2026 Oilfield services Buy: Clifford ChanceSell: Bech-Bruun
Houston-based Superior Energy Services agreed to acquire Danish well-intervention company Welltec International from Exor and 7-Industries; terms were not disclosed. Source: GlobeNewswire
S&P Global acquires OpenZeppelin
Sep 17, 2026 Onchain security Buy: Clifford ChanceSell: Cooley
S&P Global agreed to acquire onchain security company OpenZeppelin; terms were not disclosed. Source: S&P Global
Clearlake Capital takes full control of Chelsea FC
Sep 17, 2026 Sports ownership Buy: Sidley AustinSell: Latham & Watkins
Clearlake Capital Group agreed to acquire Todd Boehly's and Mark Walter's ownership interests in Chelsea Football Club, taking full control; no value was stated in a primary source. Source: Sidley Austin
Lisata Therapeutics acquires Marea Therapeutics
Sep 17, 2026 Biotech Buy: MintzSell: Goodwin
Lisata Therapeutics agreed to acquire Marea Therapeutics in a stock-for-stock deal alongside a $225 million concurrent private placement; the combined value is not counted in this edition’s total. Source: SEC filing
Argano acquires GoSaaS
Sep 17, 2026 IT consulting Buy: Kirkland & EllisSell: Reed Smith
Consulting firm Argano agreed to acquire Austin-based Oracle consultancy GoSaaS; terms were not disclosed. Source: Kirkland & Ellis
Cerity Partners merges with Gilbert & Cook
Sep 18, 2026 Wealth management Buy: Lowenstein SandlerSell: Sissel Law
Wealth manager Cerity Partners agreed to merge with Iowa-based Gilbert & Cook, which brings about $2 billion in client assets; terms were not disclosed. Source: PRNewswire
Battery Ventures takes a majority stake in Phigenics
Sep 17, 2026 Water management Buy: GoodwinSell: not yet disclosed
Battery Ventures made a majority growth investment in water-management company Phigenics; terms were not disclosed. Source: Goodwin
North Immunology merges with Aethlon Medical
Sep 17, 2026 Biotech Buy: Gibson Dunn (North Immunology)Sell: Procopio (Aethlon)
North Immunology agreed to an all-stock reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed Aethlon Medical, alongside a private placement of about $180 million in gross proceeds, including about $34 million of converted notes; the pro forma value is not counted in this edition’s total. Source: SEC filing
Israel corner
Ondas acquires Insignito, Ottopia Defense and Caribou Labs
$56M upfront Sep 23, 2026 Defense technology Counsel: not yet disclosed
Ondas acquired three defense-technology businesses, including Tel Aviv-based Insignito and Ottopia Defense, for $56 million plus up to $32 million in earn-outs through 2028. Source: SEC filing
Upwind acquires Aegis
Sep 23, 2026 AI security Counsel: not yet disclosed
San Francisco-based cloud security company Upwind, which has an office in Tel Aviv, acquired Israeli AI-security startup Aegis; terms were not disclosed. Source: Upwind
Cognex x RealSense (Sept 22, above) is also an Israel-corner deal: 135 of RealSense’s 180 employees work in Haifa, per CTech.
Corrections
Correction to edition 1 (September 5–17, 2026): it counted Cyient's $218 million acquisition of TAO Digital Solutions. Cyient announced that deal on May 30, 2026, outside that window. Corrected edition-1 figures: 38 deals, nearly $44 billion in disclosed value.
Diligencing one of these targets? Vest verifies the target's equity from the data room, with every finding cited to source. See how it works.
Methodology
This edition covers M&A deals announced September 17–23, 2026, with a US target or a US acquirer. Each date and value comes from the company's own release or SEC filing; a later law firm announcement never changes a deal's date. A firm is credited only where a published source names it, side by side. Growth investments, venture rounds and a nonprofit merger were left out, with one exception: Royal Caribbean's 50% Sandals stake, included as the week's largest deal. Two deals that circulated as this week's news, Superhuman x Fathom and Graham Partners x Immix, were excluded because their original announcements came before the window. The $7.4 billion total counts upfront consideration only. Edition 1 was labeled September 5–17 but counted deals announced through September 16, so the September 17 deals appear only in this edition.