Goldman Sachs : These 12 huge companies are prime takeover targets

By Bob Bryan

The market for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is red hot right now. And the analysts at Goldman Sachs believe it could get hotter.

"Global M&A volumes are on pace to hit $4 trillion in 2015, just shy of the previous record set in 2007," Goldman's Robert Boroujerdi said. "However, M&A as a percentage of the world's market cap sits at 5.8%, below the 20 year average of 6.7%. We would need to see a further $650 bn of announcements to close the gap."

Boroujerdi and his team have constructed a basket of 197 stocks that Goldman's clients can trade as a portfolio.

We pulled out the 12 stocks in the portfolio that have market caps above $5 billion and that Goldman believes have a "high, or 30-50%, probability of M&A activity in the next 12 months."