Swiss firms are set for a spurt of activity this year after a solid yet unspectacular first three months, helped in part by a persistently strong Swiss franc against the U.S. dollar and euro, according to a study released Tuesday.

While first-quarter dealmaking topped last year's quarter amid Meyer Burger Technology AG's (MBTN.EB) EUR356.6 million play for German solar cell maker Roth & Rau AG (R8R.XE) and Sulzer AG's (SUN.EB) CHF858 million purchase of Cardo Flow Solutions from Sweden's Assa Abloy AB (ASS-B.SK), quarterly comparisons are typically skewed by major deals. Last year, Nestle SA's (NESN.VX) $3.7 billion first-quarter acquisition of Kraft Foods Inc.'s (KFT) frozen pizza business in North America and the food-and-beverage giant's sale of a stake in eye-care firm Alcon to Novartis AG (NOVN.AG) for $28.3 billion fuelled an unusually strong reading.

"The change in mood is perceptible with corporates, who are increasingly prepared to take cash in hand, even though so-called megadeals are likely to remain rare--we are mainly talking about small- and mid-sized mergers and acquisitions," KPMG's Stefan Pfister, head of transactions and restructuring, said at a media briefing. The study was prepared by KPMG in conjunction with the University of St. Gallen.

The rising Swiss franc, a persistent source of worry for Switzerland's exporters, could enable more dealmaking because Swiss firms find their currency is worth more when translated to U.S. dollars or euros, though there are few tangible signs thus far of deals driven mainly by the Swiss franc's strength, KPMG said.

A "reawakening and reinvention" of the private-equity industry is also likely to be a factor in future dealmaking, KPMG said.

"Private equity houses are now seeking homes for the often significant funds they hold," KPMG's head of mergers-and-acquisitions Patrik Kerler said.

Specific Swiss sectors set for M&A are real estate, where KPMG downplayed the Swiss National Bank's repeated warnings of a Swiss housing bubble, industrial firms, healthcare and private banking, where smaller firms are increasingly finding themselves in a bind between rising regulatory costs and fewer clients and revenue due to watered-down banking secrecy.

-By Katharina Bart, Dow Jones Newswires; +41 43 443 8043; katharina.bart@dowjones.com