Merger Deals Set Monthly Record In US (WSJ)

The US sets a new monthly record for M&A deals in October, according to the Wall Street Journal. Qualcomm Inc’s acquisition of NXP Semiconductors ($39 billion) is just one of the large deals that happened in October, not to mention the largest deal of the year – AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner Inc ($85 billion) – which took total deals in the US past the $248 billion mark. The previously largest was July 2015 ($240 billion).

Though deal making has been down about 20% this year from last year’s record pace, the acceleration has been dramatic, and there are signs it will continue…The burst of activity is all the more surprising given that political opposition to mergers has grown in recent years as the Obama administration has moved to block a number of marquee deals and politicians of all stripes have come out against corporate tie-ups. The announcement of the Time Warner deal met widespread resistance, and has helped cause the media company’s stock to trade about $20 below the per-share price that AT&T is offering for it. Companies have continued to strike mergers at a breakneck pace in the past few days, showing how strong the urge is for them to combine at a time of persistently sluggish economic growth.

Read the article here.