Global mergers and acquisitions reached record highs this year with an outstanding third-quarter performance, shattering previous highs, before and after the financial crisis. M&A deals worth $4.33 trillion have been made to-date in 2021, breaking the previous high $4.1 trillion hit in 2007. The third quarter saw deals worth $1.52 trillion. Based on Refinitiv data, this is the largest volume done in all recorded quarters. There is an increase of almost 38 percent when compared with last year. In the United States, third-quarter volume clocked in at $581 billion, up by 32 percent compared to pandemic-ridden 2020; Asia-Pacific showed impressive gains of 21 percent with deals worth $365 billion; and Europe with $473 billion. The United States accounted for approximately half of the global M&A deals in the first three quarters of the year with $1.95 trillion. All sectors benefited from the M&A boom, with technology deals especially in software …