Mergers and acquisitions have surged this month with megadealsfor iconic companies such as Dell Inc. and H.J. Heinz Co., fuelingoptimism that more buyers are ready to embrace $10 billion pricetags.

Almost $40 billion in deals were announced yesterday, led byHeinz's $23 billion takeover by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and 3GCapital, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Transaction volume hasincreased by 27 percent so far this year compared with the sameperiod a year earlier, signaling buyers are willing to spend againfollowing last year's mergers slump.

Record corporate profits and cheap borrowing costs areattracting buyers even as stock prices soar to a five-year high,with more than $140 billion of announced M&A deals this month,data compiled by Bloomberg show. The past two weeks alone haveyielded at least four deals worth more than $10 billion each,including the Heinz and Dell buyouts and Comcast Corp.'s $16.7billion purchase of General Electric Co.'s stake in NBCUniversal.