After several quiet years, investment bankers suddenly have something of a spring in their step again. It is, of course, far too soon to talk about another M & A boom, but companies seem to be taking more than a passing interest in buying one another’s assets.
This week alone has witnessed two giant acquisitions – Verizon’s $130bn purchase of Vodafone’s interest in its US mobile joint venture and the smaller but no less high-profile takeover by Microsoft of Nokia’s mobile handset business. The former is the third-biggest corporate deal ever.
Nor are these events isolated points of light. This year has seen a quickening of the pace of corporate activity in a number of industrial sectors – notably pharmaceuticals and media. Only a few months ago, the media conglomerates Omnicom of the US and France’s Publicis pulled the trigger on a bold $35bn merger.