South-east Asia M&A deals set for first increase since 2013

Singapore

MERGER and acquisition (M&A) activity in South-east Asia is on track to post its first increase since 2013 as an uptick in intraregional deals offset a slowdown in transactions with out-of-region entities, according to data from Mergermarket.

The value of M&A deals that involved South-east Asian assets rose 49.8 per cent to US$44.5 billion in the first three quarters of 2016 compared to the same period a year earlier. The three-quarter total is already 93.3 per cent of the US$47.7 billion total for the whole of 2015. The last year in which deal value increased was 2013, when total value rose 6.2 per cent to US$73.9 billion.