See more charts by country, and sector at http://www.imaa-institute.org/statistics-mergers-acquisitions.html#MergersAcquisitions_Worldwide

One trend which has become blatantly apparent since mid-2012 is that M&A is the preferred growth strategy for US & UK companies. Rather than opting for the lengthier and often more costly process of developing their own operations, companies are more and more commonly seeking to acquire other companies operations with the view of integrating them into their own thus saving costs of development of personnel, buildings and infrastructure. What we are hearing first hand is that companies would much rather acquire existing operations in order to save time in order to capitalize on current market conditions as quickly as possible.

Via: http://www.benchmarkcorporate.com/2013/02/21/2013-ma-activity-the-story-so-far%E2%80%A6/

Global mergers and acquisitions rose to the highest level in four years this quarter, as a surge in U.S. deals provided ground for optimism and salvaged what had been the worst year for takeovers since the financial crisis. Companies worldwide have announced $691.9 billion in purchases in the final three months of the year, the most since the third quarter of 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Via: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-27/fourth-quarter-m-a-surge-spurs-optimism-after-2012-deals-decline.html

Banks and real owners are assembling huge conglomerates :-)