The total value of mergers and takeovers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa surged last month, making it the busiest January for deals in the region in over a decade, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

Deals completed last month in the region had a total value of $90.8bn, according to the company, which was the highest volume for any January since 2006.

Johnson & Johnson's takeover of Swiss biotech company Actelion and the merger of Italian eyewear group Luxottica and France's Essilor particularly boosted volumes.

Cross-border deals also rose to their highest January level since 2006 this year, hitting $106.8bn, up 31 per cent on January 2016.

Globally, M&A activity hit $258.2bn in January, a 38 per cent surge on the same month last year and the highest level for the month since 2011, according to Thomson Reuters. But deal volumes in the Asia slipped 12 per cent to $57.6bn from January last year. In America, deal volumes rose by 7 per cent to $109.8bn.

Over the last months, the UK has proved a particularly attractive location for takeovers by companies from abroad, as a result of the slump in the pound.

Blockbuster acquisitions of UK companies in 2016 included AB InBev’s $101bn takeover of SAB Miller, Shell’s takeover of BG Group for $69bn and Softbank’s acquisition of ARM Holdings for $32bn.

The world’s most valuable brands Show all 10 1 /10 The world’s most valuable brands The world’s most valuable brands 1st - Google Google replaced Apple as the world’s most valuable brand, with a brand value of $109.5bn, according to Brand Finance The world’s most valuable brands 2nd - Apple Apple’s brand value declined from $145.9bn to $107.1bn in 2016 The world’s most valuable brands 3rd - Amazon Amazon's brand value rose from $69.6bn to $106.4bn in 2016 Amazon The world’s most valuable brands 4th - At&t Of the 40 telecoms brands in the ranking, AT&T in 2016 overtook Verizon as the most valuable brand rising to $87bn from $59.9bn the year before The world’s most valuable brands 5th - Microsoft Microsoft's brand value rose marginally from $67.3bn to $76.3bn in 2016 The world’s most valuable brands 6th - Samsung Amazon's brand value rose from $58.6bn to $66.2bn The world’s most valuable brands 7th - Verizon Verizon's brand value inched up from $63.1bn to $65.9bn The world’s most valuable brands 8th - Walmart Walmart's brand value rose from $53.6bn to $62.5bn The world’s most valuable brands 9th - Facebook Facebook's brand value increased sharply from $34bn to just shy of $62bn The world’s most valuable brands 10th - ICBC ICBC saw its brand value rise to $47.8bn from $36.3bn. It was the most valuabe financial brand in the world in 2016 replacing Wells Fargo

But in a report last month law firm Baker McKenzie predicted that the total value of M&A activity in the UK will reach just $125bn in 2017, a more than 60 per cent slump from the $340bn of deals seen in 2016.