Bermuda notched up the highest number of merger and takeover transactions for five years in 2015.

A total of 489 deals took place, with the combined value of $79.17 billion up 41 per cent up on the previous year and the largest percentage increase of any offshore jurisdiction.

The deal volume increased by 17 per cent compared to 2014.

Timothy Faries, Appleby Bermuda managing partner and group head of corporate, said: “Bermuda’s strength in the insurance industry and financial services sector contributed to the jurisdiction’s key role in offshore deal activity.”

The average deal done in Bermuda totalled $148 million in 2015 was about the average seen across all jurisdictions surveyed and was a 20 per increase over the previous year.

The news came in law firm Appleby’s Offshore-i report, which provides a breakdown of mergers and acquisitions in nine jurisdictions.

Bermuda played host to several reinsurance buyouts, with the $9 billion takeover of PartnerRe by Italian investment giant Exor, the $4.2 billion merger of XL and Catlin and the $1.8 billion paid by Endurance Specialty Holdings for Montpelier Re.

Around the jurisdictions, which include the Caymans, British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong, three of the largest quarterly periods of the last decade happened last year, which helped boost the total deal value of $442 billion across offshore centres.

The year also saw nine megadeals completed, worth more than $5 billion each and more than $150 billion in total.

Cameron Adderley, Appleby partner and global head of corporate, said: “Early on we predicted that 2015 would likely be a standout year and the end results fulfills that prediction.

“The fourth quarter capped a robust year for transactional activity by all key metrics, including deal value, deal volume and average deal size.”

A record total of 2,969 deals were recorded across all jurisdictions, exceeding the previous record of 2,966 set in 2010.

The nine jurisdictions logged 75 deals worth more than $1 billion over 2015, up by 23 on the year before.

The average deal size was $149 million, $50 million up on the previous record of $99 million set in 2007, before the global economic crash.

The insurance and financial sectors continued to dominate in 2015, accounting for 883 deals, 30 per cent of the total.

Frances Woo, managing partner of Appleby’s Hong Kong office, said: “The offshore markets are thriving and enjoying some of the best deal activity ever witnessed.

“Offshore saw more value than the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, South and Central America combined.”

She added: “Although 2016 remains fraught with uncertainty and challenges at the macroeconomic level could slow global deal activity, we are quietly optimistic that such good news will continue in 2016.”