Tempest and turmoil

The ongoing soft market, as well as pressure on terms and conditions, has been a key factor in driving global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity. Last year $89 billion of volume in 770 deals were transacted according to Capital IQ—a dramatic 187 percent increase on the $31 billion of transactions in 701 deals in 2014 (reported in the Aon Benfield Reinsurance Market Outlook, January 2016).