Introduction
2010 was significantly better for M&A in Europe than 2009. In fact, at nearly US$1.3 trillion by value, it was over 100 per cent better than the US$629 billion achieved in 2009! That probably says more about the parlous state of M&A in 2009, but it is still a sure sign that M&A is back. We’re not yet at the levels seen in the peak years of 2006 and 2007, but 2010 was on a par with 2005 and that’s certainly not bad.

As well as the huge jump in European M&A activity by value, 2010 was also 74 per cent better than 2009 in terms of volume (over 7,500 deals compared to under 4,500 deals in 2009). Also, while in 2009 there was a European presence in only 34 per cent of global M&A, in 2010 that figure jumped to 48 per cent. If you look closely, you’ll see that the global growth in M&A between 2009 and 2010 was largely due to European M&A activity (at 79 per cent of global levels).