[Excerpt] Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity has continued to increase, especially in each of the past three years. This report provides a listing of the largest M&A transactions worldwide (value equivalent to $2 billion or more) that were proposed during 2006. The report includes the dates on which transactions were completed and shows M&A deals that were still pending as of December 31, 2006, or that were not successful. These data have been drawn from publicly available sources and have not been otherwise verified by the Congressional Research Service. This report will not be updated.