Regulatory scrutiny is intensifying, transactions are increasingly contested, and the outlook for M&A in Australia and globally is shifting.

The M&A Conference 2026 is the destination for dealmaking conversations in Australia - built for the people shaping today's transactions.

Now in its 9^th year, the conference is hosted by Allens, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer and Mallesons, in partnership with the Australian Financial Review, and brings together Australia's most influential dealmakers, business leaders, bankers and advisers. The program offers a rare opportunity to hear directly, and candidly, from the people running the deals defining the M&A market.

This year’s program dives into the regulatory agenda and global M&A dynamics that are shaping transactions. It features a special edition of the AFR's Chanticleer podcast on what corporate M&A lawyers are seeing behind the scenes.

Across investment banking, corporates, private equity and regulation, the conference is designed to move past the headlines and into the detail that determines how deals get done.