The market for mergers and acquisitions sprung back to life on Monday after deals totalling more than $27bn were announced, with more than half of their total value paid in cash.
After months of deal inactivity, Oracle agreed to buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4bn; GlaxoSmithKline paid $3.6bn to buy Stiefel Laboratories; and PepsiCo offered $6bn in cash and stock to buy out shareholders of its two biggest bottlers.
Bankers said the deals signalled improving business confidence and market conditions for transactions, but cautioned that the market still had a long way to go before it could reach the levels of activity seen during the recent debt boom.