Dealmakers See $69 Billion of M&A in Year’s Busiest Weekend (2)

A blockbuster Sunday of takeovers has bled into Monday for the fastest start to a week for global dealmaking this year.

Companies led by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. and U.S. pharmaceuticals group Gilead Sciences Inc. announced $69 billion of deals, the highest tally for the start of a week since late November 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That brings the volume of mergers and acquisitions announced in September up to $146 billion, a 51% increase from the same period a year earlier.

A clutch of other potential deals also came to light, including plans by Czech ...