US companies that completed acquisitions in the second quarter of the year significantly outperformed their counterparts in Europe, according to new research that highlights the gulf that still exists in M&A between the two regions.

Data from Towers Watson shows US acquirers on average outperformed the MSCI World Index by 3.8 percentage points, while European acquirers beat the index by just 0.2 percentage points. The research comes as the US enjoys a resurgent market for mergers and acquisitions but European dealflow remains in the doldrums.