The first nine months of 2015 have seen M&A activity soar to 32% higher than the same point last year, according to a report by Thomson Reuters.

The Thomson Reuters Mergers and Acquisitions Review reveals that worldwide M&A deal value has reached $3.2 trillion so far this year. This has largely been driven by a spate of deals with a value of $10bn or more. There have been 47 announced this year – with a combined value twice that of similar deals in 2014.

The US and Asian markets have been particularly strong. The total US deal value of $1.5 trillion has already surpassed the total value for the whole of 2014. It is also up 46% on the first three-quarters of that year.

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In Asia $797bn worth of deals have been announced this year – making it the strongest period since records began in 1980.

Cross-border deals have also seen an increase of 18% so far this year. The total of $1.1 trillion accounts for 39% of the total deal value announced globally.

The most active sectors so far this year have been energy & power, healthcare and tech. Energy & power totalled $476.1bn  – up 20% on last year. Healthcare and technology saw respective increases of 76% and 44%. There was only one sector, consumer staples, that saw a decline in activity (-13%).

The top three deals announced so far this year have been Royal Dutch’s acquisition of BG Group ($81bn), Charter Communications buying Time Warner Cable ($78.4) and Energy Transfer Equity’s deal for The Williams Cos ($55.9bn).

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