Private equity firms have had their busiest six months since records began four decades ago, striking deals worth more than $500bn and helping to propel global mergers and acquisitions activity to an all-time high.
Buyout groups have announced 6,298 deals since the beginning of January, worth $513bn even before counting a $34bn megadeal for the medical supply company Medline, the strongest half-year result since at least 1980 according to figures from data provider Refinitiv.
Wider corporate dealmaking continued at a frenzied pace, with overall transaction volumes hitting an all-time high of $1.5tn this quarter, the fourth consecutive quarter in which it has topped $1tn in a remarkable rebound in activity since the early days of the pandemic.