Home Breadcrumb caret Industry News Breadcrumb caret Industry Led by SPACs and techs, global M&A surges Record-setting February drives strong start in global deal activity, Refinitiv reports By James Langton | March 1, 2021 | Last updated on March 1, 2021 1 min read ALVAREZ / ISTOCKPHOTO Global mergers and acquisitions had a record February, including an all-time high in acquisitions by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), according to new data from Refinitiv. The firm reported that total global M&A deal value reached US$405.3 billion in February, pushing the year-to-date total to US$698.7 billion, which is up 56% from the same period a year ago. This represents the third strongest start to a year, behind only 2000 and 2018. In February, acquisitions by SPACs set a monthly record with US$108.6 billion worth of deals. This pushed SPAC deal activity in the first two months of the year to US$150.6 billion, which is more than 30 times higher than the same total in the first two months of 2020, Refinitiv noted. Alongside the surge in SPAC activity, robust global M&A was driven by tech sector transactions, which accounted US$157.7 billion in deals so far in 2021 — another record, representing 23% of global deal activity (up from 13% last year). “Tech has been the leading M&A sector for seven consecutive months, since August 2020,” the report said. Refinitiv also noted that there were 104 deals worth at least US$1 billion in February, the highest total on record, and well ahead of the previous record of 85 mega-deals. James Langton James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994. Save Stroke 1 Print Group 8 Share LI logo