Here’s how companies that can still afford to write the really big checks (from the Netherlands to China) are getting seriously opportunistic, using their deep pockets to swallow weaker competitors.

Unsolicited bids are running at their highest in almost a decade as companies use their cash-rich balance sheets to swallow weaker counterparts. So far this year, unsolicited bids have accounted for 19% of global M&A, according to Dealogic – the highest proportion since 1999.

Investors have been galvanised by a range of bids in recent weeks, ranging from InBev’s $52bn unsolicited takeover of Anheuser-Busch to Schaeffler’s attempt to win control of Germany’s Continental and WPP’s hostile bid for Taylor Nelson Sofres.

Even Chinese companies, traditionally conservative when acquiring foreign companies, are turning hostile, as seen this month in Sinosteel’s $1bn takeover of Midwest, the Australian iron ore producer.

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