CHIEF executives got their deal-making confidence back in 2014, emboldened by a clearer outlook for their businesses to take the global value for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to their highest annual level since 2007.

    The total was boosted by a rush of large deals in the telecoms, healthcare and consumer sectors, with transactions, some of which had been contemplated for years, promising to cause a chain reaction as rivals move to defend their territory.

    In the latest example British telecoms group BT’s move to buy mobile operator EE is expected to put pressure on rivals to seek their own tie-ups as fixed-line and mobile networks and pay-TV services converge.

    “The need to stay competitive and strengthen the core business is the main catalyst,” said Wilhelm Schulz, head of M&A in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Citi.

    Global deal volume to Dec. 11 hit US$3.27 trillion, up 40 percent from the same period last year, according to Thomson Reuters data. This was the highest level since 2007, when the total was US$4.12 trillion during a leveraged buyout boom which saw private equity firms sign multi-billion-dollar cheques and load companies with debt.

    In contrast deals in 2014 were mainly driven by more cautious company boards, using shares rather than debt to fund purchases.

    Executives haven’t lost all their post-crisis inhibitions and still prefer safe bets rather than bold adventures such as French telecoms group Iliad’s attempt to buy T-Mobile U.S.

    But expectations that the pace of deal-making will keep up in 2015 have taken a knock from the oil price slump and deepening Russian economic crisis.(SD-Agencies)