LONDON, June 22: Merger and acquisition activity in the first six months of 2007 hit a record, boosted by the battle for Dutch group ABN Amro and rapid growth of the private equity sector, a study showed on Friday.

The list -- including completed and ongoing takeovers -- shows that M and A deals totalled $2.510 trillion (1.87 trillion euros) in the first half, according to Canadian financial data provider Thomson Financial.

That was a massive 53 per cent increase compared with the same period of 2006.

The frenetic pace of takeovers in Europe, meanwhile, outpaced the United States for the first time in four years.

“This is the fifth successive year of growth and sets an all time record for first-half activity,” Thomson Financial added in the report.

However, the study was somewhat distorted by the presence of two competing bids in the biggest-ever banking sector takeover battle for control of ABN Amro.

In April, ABN Amro agreed to a takeover from British bank Barclays, whose bid was levelled at $90.8 billion, according to Thomson Financial data.A European banking consortium -- comprising Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland, Belgian-Dutch group Fortis and Spain's Santander Central Hispano -- topped the Barclays bid with an offer of $97 billion.“M and A activity in Europe during H1 exceeds the United States for the first time since 2003 with 983 billion worth of deals, up 67 per cent from H1 2006,” the study found.

“However, the trend could reverse at anytime if one of the competing bids for ABN Amro lapses.” The two blockbusters ABN bids headed Thomson Financial top ten M and A deals so far this year.

Aside from ABN, the private equity sector also loomed large over the wallet-busting chart.

US private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) won two places in the top ten, following its purchase of US credit card transaction processor First Data for $27 billion in April.

KKR also offered $44.4 billion for Texas energy group TXU in February, alongside peer Texas Pacific Group, and US investment banks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Lehman Brothers.

The TXU takeover -- which remains the largest-ever private equity-backed deal in the world -- won the coveted fifth-biggest M and A deal, according to Thomson Financial.

Europe's biggest-ever private equity deal was last April's purchase of British pharmacy giant Alliance Boots for $22 billion.

The buyer -- which was none other than KKR -- saw the transaction waved through by the European Union's top antitrust regulator last Monday.—AFP