More mergers on the way

That's what dealmakers said in a survey by Mergermarket, an M&A research service. More than half of the respondents expect another increase this year in M&A activity among large-cap companies. Most of the rest believe the level of deals will remain about the same as last year’s. Mergermarket says that first-quarter merger and acquisition activity was up 19 percent from a year earlier - not too surprising if you read the financial pages. Buying and selling companies, especially public ones, is the biggest business story this year, both because of the deals themselves and because of how they've propelled the equity markets. Energy, financial services, industrials, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology and healthcare sectors are expected to be the hot areas. Deal Book