Mergers and acquisitions grew globally in 2006. Two big merger and acquisition deals in the very first two months set the pace for the entire year.
The first was the acquisition of Guidant Corp by Boston Scientific Corporation for $27.2 billion.
The other was the Walt Disney's acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios for $7.4 billion.
These two initial months saw the declaration of $473 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions.
This marked the continuation of the growth trend of mergers and acquisitions from the two earlier years.
Some important mergers and acquisitions in 2006 include:
- Banca Intesa SpA and Sanpaolo IMI SpA for $37.54 billion
- Wachovia Corp. and Golden West Financial in the banking sector worth $26 billion
- Mittal Steel Co. and Arcelor SA for $22.7 billion
- Xstrata Plc and Falconbridge Ltd. of mining for $21.2 billion
- Anadarko Petroleum and Kerr-McGee Corp. in the energy sector for $18 billion
- Johnson & Johnson Inc. acquired Pfizer Inc. Consumer Products Division for $16.6 billion in the pharmaceuticals sector.
- Softbank KK acquired Vodafone Japan KK for $15.3 billion in telecommunications
- Regions Financial Corp. and AmSouth Bancorp for $10 billion in banking and finance.
- AXA SA and Winterthur in the insurance sector for $9.93 billion
- Goldcorp Inc. and Glamis Gold Ltd. for $8.6 billion in mining and minerals sector
- Merrill, Lynch & Co. acquired BlackRock Inc. for $8billion
- Takeover of Abbey National, Life Insurance Division by Resolution Plc in the insurance sector for $6.7 billion
- MTN Group Ltd. and Investcom LLC in the telecom sector for $ 5.5 billion in telecommunications
