Global merger and acquisition activity touched $1.49 trillion across 8,052 deals in the first half of this year, registering an eight per cent increase in value terms over last year, says a report. A total of 9,169 deals worth $1.38 trillion were sealed in January-June period of 2016. “Companies have been looking at ‘future-proofing’ in the wake of rapid changes to technology and politics to keep ahead of rivals,” said a report by Mergermarket. Moreover, there has been an increase in the number of megadeals. A total of 17 megadeals (worth over $10 billion) were announced since the beginning of the year, as against 14 in the first half of 2016.Sector wise, Energy, Mining and Utilities segment has been the most targeted industry globally by value with $267.9 billion across 662 deals.PTI