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Largest Acquisitions | Top 20 States | Top 20 Countries | Top 20 Industries


Foreign Acquisitions of U.S. Businesses


Top 20 Industries

Transactions are from July, 1978 through July, 2008


Industries Number of Acquisitions Total Acquisition Amount
Oil and gas; petroleum refining 584 $156,770,252,962
Telecommunications 257 $140,262,066,836
Drugs 429 $132,094,711,090
Business services 2,413 $131,614,428,164
Insurance 371 $106,396,830,268
Electric, gas, and water distribution 211 $97,919,815,437
Food and kindred products 476 $96,703,514,581
Investment & commodity firms,dealers,exchanges 510 $94,150,995,718
Electronic and electrical equipment 675 $84,847,233,066
Commercial banks, bank holding companies 152 $79,294,722,747
Chemicals and allied products 597 $76,282,796,138
Metal and metal products 553 $67,274,485,034
Printing, publishing, and allied services 546 $64,204,125,881
Measuring, medical, photo equipment; clocks 685 $61,759,405,087
Transportation equipment 168 $58,366,998,913
Prepackaged software 1,133 $55,535,107,763
Real estate; mortgage bankers and brokers 396 $54,723,939,948
Communications equipment 242 $44,653,274,153
Mining 337 $43,172,635,616
Machinery 668 $36,512,943,965



All attempts have been made to indicate the country of ultimate ownership for foreign companies acquiring US companies. However, it may be possible that ownership of these foreign companies may be held by a third country. For example, the higher than average number of acquisitions made by United Kingdom and Canadian companies suggest that other countries may be using their foreign-owned subsidiaries in these countries as pass-through vehicles.