Tuesday 21 June 2016 4:24 pm

Why it has been a mega quarter for mega deals

By: William Turvill

The second quarter of 2016 has been a mega period for mega deals.

The three-month period has so far included 10 $10bn-plus (£6.8bn-plus) deals completing, according to Willis Towers Watson’s Quarterly Deal Performance Monitor.

There were half as many mega mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions completed in the same quarter in 2015. Each of the 10 deals were first revealed in 2015, which was a record year for M&A deal announcements.

Read more: The UK's share of the global M&A market is at a record low ahead of EU vote

But the research, run in partnership with Cass Business School, found drops in the number of smaller deals across North America, 88 down from 119 in the same period of 2015; Europe, 34 from 43; and Asia, 58 from 79. Only deals worth $100m or more were included in the research.

“There is no doubt we have seen a marked slowdown in deal volumes compared to the record deal numbers of completed M&As at the end of last year,” said Steve Allan, M&A practice leader across EMEA at Willis Towers Watson.

“However the high number of mega deals recorded this quarter reflects the continued confidence of the largest serial acquirers, as well as the typically longer lead times for the largest deals.”

Read more: Goldman Sachs is feeling pretty confident about M&A this year

He said North America’s decline “could signify the end of the M&A surge, however it could also be a sign of the uncertainty that the current US presidential election campaign is creating”.

Here are the 10 mega deals that have completed in the second quarter of 2016: