Cláudia Cruz Almeida is quoted in the article ‘M&A in Portugal withstands turbulence as larger transactions prevail’, published by Jornal de Negócios, in which she analyses developments in the Portuguese M&A market during the first half of 2026 and the outlook for the coming months.

Bringing together the perspectives of several lawyers on transactional activity in Portugal, the article quotes Cláudia Cruz Almeida as noting that ‘the macroeconomic shocks at the beginning of the year — severe storms and rising energy prices — had a more prolonged impact on the pace of transactions than initially anticipated, with the market yet to recover over the course of the first half of the year’.

Despite this context, she highlights the resilience of the Portuguese economy’s fundamentals:

‘Portugal’s fundamentals remain solid — public debt is falling, the banking sector is well capitalised and the Recovery and Resilience Plan is gaining momentum — which supports a degree of confidence’.

The VdA Partner nevertheless warns that ‘international uncertainty may continue to constrain activity in medium-sized markets such as Portugal, particularly as a result of trade tensions, tariffs, geopolitical developments and a global market that primarily favours major operators’.

The article offers a positive assessment of the Portuguese M&A market in the first half of the year, characterised by increasingly selective investors and more complex, larger-scale transactions. Looking ahead, it anticipates a cautious outlook for the coming months, shaped by the international economic environment.