The number and value of cross-border mergers and acquisitions hit an all-time high for a six-month period in the first half of 2000, according to research gathered by KPMG
LLP.
There were 3,310 deals announced between January and June, with a combined price tag of $643 billion, the report stated. More than half the money, some $352 billion, was spent
on "Europe-to-Europe" M&As. Contributing to the Euro surge in transactions was a huge increase in the number of "megadeals," those with prices of at least $1 billion each, 99
in the first six months of 2000, up from 55 in the same six months last year. U.S. companies were involved in more than 1,700 of the M&As, but the transactions were smaller,
on average, than European deals.
U.K. firm United News & Media, parent company of PR Newswire, opened the second half of the year carrying on this trend. The British company is selling its b-to-b
communications subsidiary, Miller Freeman Europe, to Reed Elsevier, for approximately $547 million; coupled with United News' sale of Miller Freeman U.S. to Dutch firm VNU for
$650 million, the company easily breaks the $1 billion mark.