October second biggest '06 merger monthTotal value of deals in month reaches $331 billion, putting annual activity on track to beat 2000 record, according to a report.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Several massive deals last month made October the second biggest merger month of 2006, according to a report published Wednesday. The volume of deals in the month hit 2,640, the most ever for October, for a total value of $331 billion, said the New York Post. The next busiest October was in 1997, with 2,343 mergers totaling $275 billion, said the paper. Big deals included the Texas Pacific Group and Apollo Investment's (Charts) $25.6 million bid for casino Harrah's, and a $16.5 billion bid by the Dolan family for network Cablevision (Charts), according to the report. A multi-billion dollar deal between Chicago Mercantile Exchange (Charts) and the Chicago Board of Trade also added to the record total. |
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