August is normally a month of relaxation for the financial world in the northern hemisphere, as people head away on holiday.
But companies are busy spending on mergers and takeovers.
There have been hostile bids by South Korea's state oil firm, Knoc, for Dana Petroleum of Britain and a $US40 billion bid by BHP Billiton for the fertiliser firm, Potash, while Intel is buying McAfee for almost $US8 billion.
KPMG mergers and acquisitions global head David Simpson says companies should still be wary in the current economic environment.
Thomson Reuters says about $US150 billion in mergers and acquisitions deals have been initiated in the past two months - the busiest since they started collecting data in 1987.
