It’s official: The first quarter of 2021 saw the largest value of M&A activity for an opening quarter since records started being kept in 1980, according to financial data company Refinitiv. 

With deal value of $1.3 trillion in Q1, representing a 94% increase year-over-year from the same period in 2020, it is also the second largest quarter on record, surpassed only by the second quarter of 2007, when $1.4 trillion in deals got done.