NEW YORK: The first quarter of 2009 was the worst for M&A in six years in terms of both value and volume, according to the  mergermarket M&A League Tables of PR Advisers. It found 1,691 announced deals were valued at $409 billion globally. That compares to Q1 2003, which tallied about 1,500 deals valued at $232 billion. Q1 2009 was also the worst quarter by value since Q3 2004, which totaled $343 billion.

The healthcare sector produced the top three deals - ...