The value of European mergers and acquisitions is about to surpass last year's total and is on course for a record year.

Deals with a value of $1.18 trillion (€924bn) have been announced in the year to September 22, only $54bn less than were announced last year, according to data provider Thomson Financial. Deal activity rebounded this month after the traditional summer lull, with the healthcare sector seeing €15bn worth of deals in two frenetic days last week, including the Sfr16.6bn (€10.5bn) takeover by Merck, a German pharmaceuticals company, of Swiss rival Serono.
This supports predictions that European M&A activity could this year surpass the previous record set in 1999 at the height of the technology, media and telecoms bubble. The activity this year involves all industry sectors. In financial services, Italy's Banca Intesa paid $37bn for local rival Sanpaolo IMI, while in the industrials sector steelmaker Mittal completed its $44bn acquisition of Paris-listed Arcelor. The year's biggest deal is in the utilities sector, with the planned $57bn takeover of Endesa of Spain by Germany's E.On. Fears a stand-off between the European Commission and national governments over protectionism could derail deals have been allayed, with the Spanish government expected to set aside its objections to E.On's planned takeover. Dealflow is boosting advisory revenues at investment banks, which are owed more than $6bn in M&A income from deals that have been announced but not completed. Goldman Sachs is set to earn almost $1bn in fees, topping the $609m it earned from M&A advisory in the third quarter.