M&As help firms manoeuvre in this fast-changing world

ORGANISATIONS are recognising the benefits and value gained through mergers and acquisitions (M&As) - which they should embrace and savvily navigate to stay on top of their game.

Last year brought a dip in in M&A activity, going by a report by Thomson Reuter's financial and business risk arm Refinitiv. Activity declined 30.7 per cent year on year to US$66.2 billion, with the average closing deal sizes at US$97.7 million.

Despite this, there is a good and steady appetite for M&A activity in Singapore, says the 2018 South-east Asia (SEA) edition of the 19th Ernst & Young Global Capital Confidence Barometer report; it is in the Republic that 40 per cent of corporate executives plan to acquire investments amid rising competition for assets and geopolitical disruption.