Dealmakers announced 40% more dollar volume in M&A transactions through the first six months of this year than in the same period last year, with announced M&A increasing from $418 to $587.2 billion. The amount spent on deals in the second quarter rose...

The availability of capital continues to drive an active M&A market. This year through April 225 public companies in the US have agreed to be bought out at a combined cost of $246 billion. An additional 339 companies started programs to...

The recent phenomenon of private equity firms cooperating on large acquisitions continues this month with Maytag’s recent announcement that it will be taken private by an investment group led by Ripplewood Holdings LLC in a deal valued at $1.13 billion. Ripplewood and fellow investors...

M&A activity has shown no sign of retreating from the strong deal market that began in 2004. In the first quarter of 2005 deal activity kept up the pace set at the end of last year with $264 billion worth of deals on 1,906 transactions, compared to...

Buy-outs are back. In addition to record LBO volumes in the second half of 2004, valuations are going up. Increasingly, valuations are high enough for sellers to enter the market, without being so high as to give buyers...