It has been a busy start to the year for mergers and acquisitions, with the Omicron outbreak failing to dampen activity.
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The consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers' quarterly M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) update said there were 45 deals announced or completed in the first three months of the year, compared with just 11 for the same period last year.
It's down from 107 deals in the final quarter of last year, but still well above pre-Covid-19 levels.
PwC New Zealand partner Regan Hoult said the technology sector has again been leading the way in mergers and acquisitions activity.
He said the elevated activity is down to a number of factors.
"It's a meeting of supply and demand. On the supply side looking across our deals and that deals that have been announced, there continues to be a trend around baby boomers who have developed and built businesses over many years and hadn't necessarily got a path to pass it on to family and are looking to crystallise.
"A trend we're seeing in the market is a lot of founder-backed businesses looking to be crystallised."
Hoult said most mergers and acquisitions were local, but it was followed by deals with Australia and US firms.
Within the technology sector, "edtech" or education technology businesses continued to thrive, PwC's report said.
"Like most aspects of our society, the education sector has gone through numerous challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. These have accelerated changes in how students learn and how educators teach," it said.
PwC said research indicated global edtech spending was $US164 billion in 2019, and projected to reach $US404b by 2025.
It said it was expecting to see "robust" deal activity continue throughout 2022 due to the significant amounts of capital available in the market.
"Strong valuations and increasing market uncertainty may lead to business owners wanting to accelerate the timing of exits. At the same time, well capitalised private equity firms remain a central driving force for deal flow," PwC said.