Asia-Pac M&A hits highest Q1 value since 2001: report

THE first three months of this year saw the highest first quarter mergers & acquisitions (M&A) activity in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) in deal value since 2001, with Singapore's Temasek Holdings playing a significant role through one of the largest deals.

A new trend report by Mergermarket shows that the region saw US$101.6 billion worth of deals during the first quarter of this year, up 36.3 per cent from the US$74.5 billion during the same period last year. This was the highest M&A value recorded during the start of any year since Mergermarket started compiling the report in 2001.

The largest deal in the region was made in China with Shanghai Jinfeng Investment's US$10.6 billion acquisition of real estate group Shanghai Greenland (Group) on March 18. This was followed by Belgian brewery Anheuser-Busch InBev's US$5.8 billion acquisition of South Korea's Oriental Brewery in January. Singapore also featured in the list of largest deals as Temasek Holdings' recent acquisition of a 24.95 per cent stake in Hong Kong-based AS Watson & Co from Hutchison Whampoa for US$5.7 billion was the third-largest deal in the region in the first three months of this year.