With 71 announced deals clocking in at more than $10 billion, 2015 set a record for M&A, according to Thomson Reuters. The total value of transactions was $4.7 trillion, up 42 percent from 2014. Healthcare, energy and power and technology led in the firm's survey. Powered by pharmaceutical transactions, healthcare surged 71 percent to $674 billion. Overall, there were 42,300 deals announced during 2015, an increase of 0.2 percent over the previous year.