The value of European technology mergers and acquisitions (M&As) has more than doubled in the past year, according to market analyst Thomson Financial.

Deals this year have reached a total value of $36.4bn (£18.4bn), compared with $14.4bn (£7.3bn) at the same time last year.

The findings reflect an overall increase in worldwide market activity, which is running 77 per cent ahead of last year across many sectors, including financial, industrial, property and technology.

The high level of activity in the IT industry reflects a worldwide boom fuelled by low interest rates and the availability of private equity and cheap debt, says Gartner analyst Mark Raskino.

‘M&A worldwide is higher now than in 2000 and private equity is at an all-time high. It is important to view IT within the context of that global boom,’ he said.

But runaway growth can be self-generating and will not last forever, he says.

‘Nobody can say when it will end, but it is not 10 years away, and probably not five years away either,’ said Raskino.

Some big IT vendors are relying on acquisitions to reverse slowing growth and flagging innovation, says Raskino.

‘There is a question mark over the level of strategic business innovation being offered by the IT industry,’ he said.

Investment bank Regent Associates chairman Peter Rowell says the number of deals is relatively static, but that M&A values continue to rise. ‘The difficulty with tracking deal value is that a few big deals can distort results,’ he said.