Europe Goes From M&A Laggard to Leader as Crisis Subsides

After years of holding back as Europe lurched from crisis to crisis, the region’s large companies are staging a deal-making comeback.

Western European buyers announced $149 billion of acquisitions in the first three months of the year, a nearly 60 percent gain over the start of 2013 that outpaces the increase from North America and Asia, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Led by telecommunications, media, and technology companies, the value of announced acquisitions worldwide rose about 26 percent to $637 billion, the best start to a year since 2007 -- before the global financial crisis.