The market for mergers and acquisitions rebounded in Australia during 2013, as it shed the uncertainty that hit the global deal market a year earlier.

Final figures released by financial markets tracker Dealogic show the value of Australian M&A came in at $101.1 billion last calendar year, up 16 per cent from the year before.

Australia's M&A market peaked in 2011 when nearly $155 billion worth of deals were announced, but it fell away sharply in 2012 as nervousness over the direction of Europe's economy kept buyers on the sidelines.

The local utility and energy sector was the most targeted sector for the first time in eight years, powered by $8.4 billion worth of Chinese investment, Dealogic figures show. Transactions include State Grid Corp of China's $5 billion deal to buy 19 per cent of electricity supplier SP AusNet and 60 per cent of energy infrastructure company SPI Australia.

A year-end surge of acquisitions includes the biggest local insurance transaction in many years, with Insurance Australia Group paying $1.85 billion for the underwriting arm of Wesfarmers.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs secured the top spot in advising on Australian M&A, with a hand in $33 billion worth of deals. It was closely followed by UBS, which worked on transactions valued at $32.4 billion, and Macquarie, with $29.6 billion.

UBS dominated the managing of capital raisings and stockmarket listings, with more than $9.72 billion worth of deals during the year. This was double the worth of deals by Macquarie, which was behind $4.93 billion worth of capital raisings and stockmarket listings. Goldman Sachs oversaw $3.65 billion worth of capital raisings and initial public offers.

Funds raised in Australian IPOs during 2013 passed $5.6 billion, easily outpacing the $830 million raised in 2012. Much of the activity came in a flurry of year-end listings.

The largest stockmarket listing in Australia was that of packaging manufacturer Pact Group, which raised $649 million. Nine Entertainment raised $643 million and travel insurance provider Cover-More Group raised $520 million.