The Year of the Deal

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Companies around the world spent a record $5.04 trillion on acquisitions in 2015, according to Dealogic, as slow worldwide economic growth and low interest rates pushed companies to combine forces.

Dealogic, a financial-data provider, says the value of global deals soared 37 percent 2015. The highest price tag came in November, when Pfizer and Allergan announced the biggest pharmaceutical deal in history.

Low interest rates since the Great Recession have made it cheaper for companies to borrow money to pay for acquisitions, and because the global economy grew only slowly this year, companies decided it made more sense to buy their competitors instead of trying to boost their sales on their own.

Here are the 10 largest acquisitions announced during the year:

Pfizer and Allergan

Pfizer, the maker of cholesterol fighter Lipitor, impotence treatment Viagra and fibromyalgia drug Lyrica, agreed to buy Allergan in November. The $148.57 billion deal would be the second-largest corporate merger ever.

AB INBEV AND SABMILLER

The biggest beer maker in the world wants to get even larger. The company behind Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois agreed to buy the maker of Miller Genuine Draft and Peroni for $105.56 billion in October.

Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group

When Royal Dutch Shell agreed to buy BG Group in April, oil prices had taken a steep fall from their 2014 highs. But they were going to get a lot worse. Oil and gas company Shell agreed to buy BG Group for $69.83 billion to expand its liquid natural gas business. Natural-gas prices have tumbled since then, and in December they reached their lowest levels in 16 years.

Dell and EMC

In October, PC maker Dell agreed to pay $65.97 billion for EMC, which makes data-storage hardware and sells cloud storage and security products. Dell’s personal-computer sales have been weak for years, but the company has been expanding its software and service businesses.

Dow Chemical and DuPont

Dow Chemical agreed to buy competitor DuPont in a deal that will combine two chemicals companies that were founded in the 19th century. Both Dow and DuPont were pushed by activist investors to break up or find other ways to revitalize their businesses. When the $62.38 billion deal closes, Dow DuPont will make products including Ziploc bags, Saran wrap, Teflon coatings and Nylon and Kevlar fibers. Dow DuPont then will break into three separate companies with more-specific focuses.

Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable

Charter Communications agreed to buy Time Warner Cable for $56.80 billion in May, and it also will spend about $10 billion to buy Bright House Networks. That will make Charter one of the largest providers of TV and Internet services in the U.S.

Heinz and Kraft Foods

One of the largest food companies in the world was formed when H.J. Heinz bought Kraft Foods for $53.83 billion. The purchase, which was announced in March and closed in July, brought together brands including Oscar Meyer, Capri Sun, Ore-Ida, Maxwell House, Kool-Aid and Heinz ketchup.

Anthem buys Cigna

A wave of health insurance combinations swept the market in July as Anthem announced it would buy Cigna for $51.93 billion just after Aetna said it would buy Humana for $35.04 billion. Anthem is the second-largest U.S. insurance company in terms of enrollment, and Cigna is fourth. The combined company would cover almost 50 million people.

EBay spins off PayPal

Online commerce giant eBay spun off its payments system unit PayPal for $49.16 billion in July. That was almost a year after eBay announced PayPal would become a separate company. Investors value PayPal more highly than its former parent, as PayPal has a market capitalization of about $45 billion compared with eBay’s $33 billion.

Teva buying Allergan Generics

Teva, an Israeli company that already is the world’s largest manufacturer of generic drugs, will get even bigger by buying the generic-drugs business of Botox maker Allergan. Teva had been looking to expand, as earlier in the year it pushed to buy generic drugmaker Mylan. It dropped that bid after agreeing to its $40.5 billion deal with Allergan.