Megadeals have dominated the market, says A&O. There were 94 deals worth more than £5bn - an increase of 81 per cent on 2013. The US and Western Europe have been the areas that drove the market. The A&O mergers team seem slightly surprised at their own confidence, commenting on the 2014 year end: 'It seems a little unusual to end a year on a truly optimistic note...But we continue to believe the fundamentals are strong enough to support continued growth in transactions in 2015. Indeed, from this vantage point, it looks likely that volumes could be even higher in the next 12 months.'

Telecoms, Media and Tech

The 'real standout areas of growth' have been life sciences and TMT. Regarding the latter, the statement from the firm says: 'In TMT, the story has been about consolidation in the telecoms market and the continued adventurous dealmaking by tech giants, which we expect to continue.' Source: A&O