Two more $10 billion-plus M&A deals were announced in March, and the first quarter finished with 10 worldwide, the highest total since the second quarter of 2022.

The largest announcement of the month was The Home Depot Inc.'s $18.25 billion deal to acquire SRS Distribution Inc., which is being sold by investors Leonard Green & Partners LP and Berkshire Partners LLC. That deal was followed by EQT Corp.'s $14.3 billion agreement to purchase Equitrans Midstream Corp.

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The activity in March marked a slowdown from the three previous months, which each recorded four $10 billion-plus M&A deals. However, the continued announcements of large deals is a positive trend because weekslong droughts with no significant deals occurred multiple times in 2022 and 2023. In 2023, only one $10 billion-plus deal was announced in July, and none was announced in January. In 2022, June, July and August recorded no $10 billion-plus deal announcements.

Industrials back in the game

The sale of commercial building products distributor SRS to Home Depot ends a drought of big-ticket deals in the industrials sector. Before that transaction, the most recent deal in that sector valued above $10 billion involved Blitz F23-620 GmbH, a subsidiary of Carrier Global Corp., buying Viessmann Climate Solutions SE in a transaction with a value of $14.3 billion at its April 2023 announcement.

The EQT deal for Equitrans Midstream is the third $10 billion-plus M&A announcement in the energy and utilities sector this year, tying that sector with financials for the most deals that size in 2024.

Deals concentrated in US

The pickup in large deals has been driven by activity in the US. The targets in each of the $10 billion-plus transactions announced in 2024 have been US-based.

While the US is almost always the largest M&A market worldwide, there is typically more geographic distribution of big deals. Of the 24 $10 billion-plus deals announced in 2023, Europe accounted for five and Asia-Pacific three while the rest came from US and Canada.