For the first time in more than a year, the total value and number of global $10 billion-plus M&A deal announcements increased year over year in a full quarter.

The third quarter finished with four such transactions, up from two in the year-ago period, and they had a total value of $73.42 billion, more than double the year-ago total of $33.50 billion. The most recent previous quarter with year-over-year increases in the number and total value of $10 billion-plus M&A deal announcements was the second quarter of 2022.

The 2023 third-quarter totals were still down sequentially from the second quarter, in which there were seven $10 billion-plus M&A deal announcements for a total value of $109.72 billion, but it is not uncommon for deal activity to slow during the summer months of the third quarter.

This year's third-quarter activity was boosted by two September transactions — Cisco Systems Inc.'s $29.41 billion deal for Splunk Inc. and Smurfit Kappa Group PLC's $20.97 billion deal for WestRock Co. Those deals were the largest global M&A announcements since May.

Another cross-border deal

Dublin-based Smurfit Kappa's acquisition of Atlanta-based WestRock is a combination of packaging companies that will allow the buyer to expand in the US. The transaction also added to the recent spate of large cross-border deals.

A total of seven cross-border $10 billion-plus transactions have been announced in 2023, which matches the full-year total of 2022 and is not far off from the 2021 full-year total of 10 cross-border transactions of $10 billion or more.

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Still, 2023 is on pace to record a dropoff in large M&A activity overall. Through the first three quarters a total of 15 deals with a $10 billion-plus transaction valuation have been announced. The full-year total in 2022 was 27, and that was down from 36 in 2021.

The slowdown in large M&A deals has been driven by higher interest rates, which raise the cost of deal financing. Increased antitrust scrutiny of big deals in the US has also deterred some of the activity.

Tech tie-up

The technology space has been an area of focus for antitrust regulators, and it is expected that regulators will review the combination of Cisco, a company known for making computer networking equipment, and Splunk, which runs a platform enabling companies to review their data to identify threats and resolve problems.

During an investor call to discuss the transaction, Cisco Chairman and CEO Charles Robbins said there is little overlap between the companies and the complementary technologies will lead to greater cyber protections for customers. Cisco executives are confident they can close the deal for Splunk by the expected completion date in the third quarter of 2024, but they do anticipate some scrutiny.

"While there will clearly be a regulatory review, we think we get through that in nine to 12 months," Cisco CFO Scott Herren said during the call.