WHEELIN' AND DEALIN': Investment bank Berkery Noyes counted 160 mergers and acquisitions, totaling $5.9 billion, in the first half of 2014. Both numbers are the highest for any half-year over the previous two years. The two biggest deals--both topping $1 billion--involved, unsurpisingly, private equity firms: Charterhouse Capital Partners bought Skillsoft for $2.3 billion; Hellman & Friedman snapped up Renaissance Learning for $1.1 billion. Berkery Noyes estimates that the 731 transactions tracked between 2012 and the first half of 2014 are worth $20.6 billion, with the number of deals in "K-12 Media and Tech" and "Higher-Ed Institutions" trending upward.
