Sovereign Funds Drive Biggest Deals in $3.5 Trillion M&A Year

Deep-pocketed sovereign wealth funds are helping drive a resurgence in dealmaking that’s taken global M&A volumes past $3.5 trillion this year.

State-backed funds from the Middle East and Asia provided firepower for some of the year’s biggest transactions. Blackstone Inc. and TPG Inc. agreed Tuesday to acquire medical-device maker Hologic Inc. for as much as $18.3 billion including debt, with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Singapore sovereign fund GIC Pte taking minority stakes.

Last week, BlackRock Inc. teamed up with MGX, an AI investment firm set up by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co., on a $40 billion ...