• M&A volume measured by AUM reached $2.4 trillion, up 110% from $1.1 trillion in 2005, and up 435% from $444 billion in 2004. 

• Key deals include Bank of New York’s acquisition of Mellon Financial, involving $918 billion AUM, and Schwab’s sale of US Trust to Bank of America, involving $94 billion AUM.

• Twenty-four deals included AUM of over $10 billion, up 71% from 14 deals in 2005, and up 118% from 11 deals in 2004

• Deals involving alternative managers reached 55, up 45% from 38 deals in 2005, and up 57% from 35 deals in 2004

Securities Firms

• Dollar value of M&A deals reached $89 billion, up 154% from $35 billion in 2005, and up 260% from $25 billion in 2004

• This surge was concentrated in electronic trading & exchanges (60 deals, up 43%), investment banks (35 deals, up 35%) and diversified securities firms (36 deals, up 200%)

• Geographically, Asia remained very strong (78 deals), Europe grew (50 deals, up 52%), and North America was down slightly (48 deals, down 13%)

Private equity firms were involved in some landmark transactions last year, including the acquisition of GMAC for $7.4 billion by a group led by Cerberus Capital and the acquisition of Gartmore (UK) by Hellman & Friedman for $950 million.

Private equity firms invested $30 billion in 96 financial services firms in 2006, compared to 81 transactions valued at $38 billion in 2005. Volume in 2004 was 67 transactions worth $14 billion.