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Financial reporters and editors at The New York Times believe that the Warren Buffett takeover of H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ), as well as leverage buyout deals like the pending one for Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), are the start of a surge in mergers and acquisitions, which has not existed since before the economic disaster of 2008.

Writers for the paper report:

The mega-merger is back.

For the corporate takeover business, the last half-decade was a fallow period. Wall Street deal makers and chief executives, brought low by the global financial crisis, lacked the confidence to strike the audacious multibillion-dollar acquisitions that had defined previous market booms.

The trend could die as quickly as it restarted. A large correction in the stock market, slowing GDP numbers, new legislation that raises taxes or an end to the low interest rates that large companies have enjoyed could, together or individually, scare off private equity investors.