After a lull in mergers and acquisitions in the early 2000s, activity is once again heating up. In fact, the first three months of 2006 marked the fastest start for M&A activity since the record-breaking year of 2000. During this period, companies signed more than 5,800 M&A deals globally, totaling about $859 billion. Europe experienced the biggest increase, where the value of deals more than doubled over the previous year, reaching $454 billion.
