LONDON (Reuters) - Global mergers and acquisitions have already reached $2 trillion (1.5 billion pounds) in 2018, a record for the value of deals in the period, Thomson Reuters data showed on Tuesday.
A flurry of deals at the start of the week, particularly in the United States with the $11.1 billion merger of GE's (N:GE) transportation business and rail equipment maker Wabtec (N:WAB), helped reach the milestone.
The last two periods when M&A reached similar levels were in 2007 ($1.8 trillion), a year before the financial crisis and in 2000 ($1.5 trillion), just before the bursting of the dot.com bubble of technology and internet related stocks.
About $28 billion in U.S. deals were announced on Monday, with activity in power, financials, and real estate.
Europe has also seen a deals boom, with April recording the highest value of monthly deals in 10 years, Thomson Reuters data shows, while M&A activity between the United States and Britain hit a 19-year high of $89.6 billion.
And globally, M&A shows no sign of pausing, with Sony Corp (T:6758) saying on Tuesday it would pay $2.3 billion for control of EMI, becoming the world's largest music publisher.
Meanwhile, German conglomerate Bayer (DE:BAYGn) is closing in on a $62.5 billion takeover of U.S. Monsanto (N:MON).
Graphic: MNA - https://reut.rs/2GI5RmS