October was a mega month for global M&A thanks to AT&T, BAT and Qualcomm
AT&T, British American Tobacco (BAT) and US wireless technology company Qualcomm helped drive October to become one of the biggest on record for global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity.
More than $500bn worth of deals were announced in October, with US companies particularly active despite the upcoming US presidential election.
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The biggest deal of the month, announced on 22 October, saw AT&T agree a $108bn takeover of Time Warner.
In second place was UK-listed BAT’s $47bn offer to fully acquire Reynolds American.
Qualcomm, meanwhile, agreed to buy Dutch rival NXP for the same amount last week.
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In total, Dealogic tracked 2,199 deals in October with a total value of $503bn. This makes it the seventh biggest month, in terms of deal value rather than quantity, on record.
April 2007 was the biggest month, with $559bn worth of deals, while October 2015 came in second with $557bn.