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John Melsom Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva:

John Melsom, CIO of the Omni Event Fund, an event driven hedge fund that focuses on hard catalyst events, reviews the current M&A scene.

M&A scene remains active A rise in the number of transformational deals of $10 billion-plus in value and an increase in cross-border transactions drove a 27% year over year increase in global M&A activity in 2014, according to JP Morgan. And the factors that supported deal making in 2014 are being sustained in 2015.

The Deloitte M&A Index, a forward-looking indicator that forecasts future global M&A deal volumes, says the first half of 2015 has emerged as one of the strongest for M&A, with more than $1.8 trillion worth of deals announced, a 22% increase over H1 2014. US corporates led this surge. The index predicts that in Q3, M&A activity will remain at a similar level to Q2. However, political and currency risks are undermining European corporate confidence, despite favourable credit conditions and strong corporate earnings.

John Melsom believes the M&A scene will stay active for a while yet. There has been a slow pickup in M&A, but the real boom has started this year, he says.

"These booms tend to last at least three years. From the lack of M&A activity post......................

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