The value of global mergers and acquisitions hit $1.75tn in the first six months of the year, a 75 per cent rise on the same period last year and the highest since 2007.

The increase highlights a shift in thinking in the US, Europe and Asia. Risk aversion and organic expansion, embraced after the financial crisis, are being pushed aside as the belief returns that growth can be more easily bought than built.

In the US, M&A announced in the year to date stands at $748.5bn, up almost three-quarters on a year earlier. In Asia-Pacific, deals hit $327.8bn, up 85 per cent and the best year-to-date period for dealmaking in the region since Thomson Reuters began recording the data in 1980. In Europe, M&A is back with a bang: the $509bn of deals announced mark a more than doubling over 2013 levels.