Deals
Global Dealmaking Hits All-Time Peak in 2015 at $4.2 Trillion
- Goldman breaks personal best, advises on $1.4 trillion
- History suggests M&A peak may be followed by correction
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There have been 37,212 deals in 2015 -- roughly one for every employee of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the Wall Street bank that has been one of the big winners of the current merger boom.
It is a number that means 2015 is guaranteed the title -- for the next 12 months at least -- of being the record year for mergers and acquisitions, with $4.2 trillion of transactions pending or completed, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. (Deal volume for league table purposes includes M&A, stakes, joint ventures and spinoffs, though not share buybacks.)