CVC Sold Skroutz Without Bankers, Using AI Instead — Here's What Happened

Skroutz, founded in 2005, has evolved from a price-comparison website into Greece's leading e-commerce platform, listing more than 12 million products from approximately 9,000 merchants and serving about 2.5 million active users ^SW.

The Bigger Picture: AI Has Become M&A Infrastructure

The Skroutz deal is not an isolated experiment. A wave of major surveys published in 2025–2026 shows AI has moved from the experimental fringe to essential infrastructure in dealmaking.

Datasite/FT Longitude survey (July 2026) — 1,000 senior dealmakers across 27 countries:

• 96% of dealmakers are using or exploring AI for sourcing and screening opportunities ^T.
• 50% have AI regularly embedded in due diligence, the stage delivering the highest reported ROI ^T.
• 62% say human-only decision-making is no longer defensible in complex transactions ^T.
• 71% believe firms that ignore AI today will struggle to compete within five years ^T.
• 43% say AI is already making better deal decisions than humans in some scenarios ^T.
• 24% say AI helped them complete a deal they otherwise would have missed ^T.
• 66% believe AI helps de-risk transactions across the deal lifecycle ^T.

Bain & Company 2026 Global M&A Report:

• Adoption of AI tools more than doubled in 2025, with 45% of M&A executives now relying on the technology for tangible use cases across the deal lifecycle ^AB.
• AI-fueled dealmaking drove the rebound in Tech M&A; nearly half of strategic technology deal value for deals over $500M involved AI-native targets or cited AI benefits ^A.

Deloitte 2025 M&A Generative AI Study (1,000 corporate and PE leaders):

• 86% of corporate and private equity leaders now use generative AI in dealmaking ^DP.
• Most expect AI to substantially improve capabilities in target screening, due diligence, and post-merger integration ^P.

PwC 2026 Mid-Year M&A Outlook:

• AI is "upending how deals get done," accelerating diligence, valuation, and investment committee preparation — though human judgment still matters ^P.
• Global M&A value is on track to reach approximately $4 trillion in 2026, up 13% from 2025 ^P.

Accuracy and Security Are the Defining Challenges

As AI adoption accelerates, the Datasite survey identifies trust as the central issue:

• Accuracy (71%) and security (70%) rank as the two most important requirements for AI in dealmaking ^T.
• 58% of respondents rely on human review and validation to build confidence in AI-generated outputs ^T.
• Nearly half (45%) say the final decision to sign a deal should always remain a human responsibility ^T.
• 24% believe poor use of AI could jeopardize major deals over the next five years ^T.

Raj Bakhru, General Manager of Blueflame AI (Datasite's AI arm), noted: "The real challenge is ensuring AI outputs are accurate, secure and trusted. Strong governance, transparent workflows and human oversight are what determine whether AI creates value or introduces risk." ^T

Where AI Still Falls Short: What Dealmakers Say It Cannot Yet Do

Across all the surveys, a clear consensus emerges on AI's current limitations:

Attributes respondents say AI struggles most to replicate:

• Negotiation and relationship management
• Strategic judgment and prioritization
• Assessing trust, intent, and credibility of counterparties
• Making decisions under uncertainty
• Accountability for high-stakes decisions ^T

Key risk signals from dealmakers:

• 45% say signing a deal should always remain a human decision ^T.
• 27% are not using AI for board-level reporting at all ^T.
• PwC explicitly flags that while AI accelerates diligence and valuation, human judgment still matters and is not being replaced ^P.
• Bain's report emphasizes that AI adoption requires strong governance frameworks to avoid introducing errors or security vulnerabilities at scale ^B.

What This Means for the Future of M&A

The Skroutz sale is the most prominent known case of a PE firm replacing investment bankers with AI to run a full sell-side process. The deal closed successfully, but the industry-wide data makes clear that AI in M&A is not yet — and may never be — a full replacement for human judgment. The technology excels at data processing, sourcing, and screening. It struggles with negotiation, trust assessment, and high-stakes accountability. For now, the firms that win are likely to be the ones that combine AI's speed and scale with rigorous human oversight and strong governance.