The tax cuts are providing a big boost for corporate dealmaking, as the lower corporate tax rate and the repatriation of foreign holdings free up cash that companies can use to make new investments.
“Tax cuts helped set the stage for the recent boom in deals,” CNBC reports, with the total value of mergers and acquisitions in 2018 hitting $2 trillion this week.
Global M&A is keeping up the pace established in the first quarter, when deals worth $1.2 trillion were announced, a 67 percent increase over the first quarter in 2017.
Deals announced this week include Fifth Third Bancorp buying MB Financial for $4.7 billion, Blackstone buying LaSalle Hotel Properties for $3.7 billion, and General Electric merging its transportation business with Wabtec in an agreement worth $11.1 billion.
