According to mergermarket, an intelligence-gathering service for the mergers and acquisitions agency, the first quarter of 2011 saw the busiest mergers and acquisitions market since the first quarter of 2007.
There was a total of about $268.4 billion in M&A deals between January and the end of March, an 85 percent increase from the same time in 2010, the report states. More than 45 percent of the M&A deals made around the world were closed in the United States.
Cross-border deals were significant contributors to the rising dollar amount, the report states. Inbound deals rose 28 percent to $44.3 billion, while outbound M&A rose to $53.6 billion, the highest level since 2008.
Private equity level was about $34 billion in the quarter, a significant rise from the first quarter of 2010, when there was less than $20 billion in new private equity investment. There were higher levels of private equity investment in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2010, and the first quarter of 2011 private equity investment levels are slightly lower than those quarters.
