WPP bought a string of companies in 2001, most notably the media-buying group Tempus, which resulted in a bitter fight as WPP tried to abandon its £432m bid only for the company to be forced to go through with the deal by the Takeover Panel.
The Tempus deal is not included in the Dealogic figures, which list acquisitions for the 12 months to November 2001.
To win the top spot, WPP completed 27 deals with a total value of just £352.8m, which was double the number of the number two company, Irish building materials group CRH.
The number of deals in the UK and Ireland fell by 57% to £198.9bn in the 12 months to November 2001. This compares with the previous 12 months when the volume of deals was £462.9bn, according to Dealogic.
Other companies which were busy in 2001 included South African Breweries in third place, which racked up 12 deals worth £774.2m, while mobile phone giant Vodafone remained among the nation's top shoppers, ranking fifth with 10 deals worth a total of £9.1bn.
The table also indicates that the UK's acquisitive companies outperformed less acquisitive rivals. WPP shares outperformed the DJ Stoxx media index by more than 20% this year, showing that its purchase of Tempus ultimately did not impact on its performance.
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