Early-stage mergers & acquisitions (M&A) activity is increasing in Asia-Pacific (APAC) by 9 per cent year-over-year, meaning the number of deal announcements in the region is expected to rise in Q1 2017 compared to the same period last year. This growth is due largely to a surge in early-stage M&A activity in India, which rose by 190 per cent year-over-year. This is according to the latest Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor report released by Intralinks® Holdings.
The Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor also forecasts that the global number of announced deals in FY 2016 will be around 3 per cent higher than FY 2015. This would make 2016 the new peak for the number of global deal announcements, surpassing the previous peak year of 2007. The Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor is also forecasting a 5 per cent increase in the total number of M&A deals to be announced globally in Q1 2017 compared to Q1 2016.
According to Intralinks, the leading global provider of software and services for managing M&A transactions, key countries across APAC show the following growth in early-stage M&A activity, compared to the same period last year:
- South East Asia (which includes Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia), increased by 14 per cent, with Singapore being a relatively subdued contributor to this growth, increasing by just 4 per cent;
- North Asia (which includes China, Hong Kong and South Korea) is down 6 per cent, due to declining levels of early-stage M&A activity in Hong Kong;
- India is up 190 per cent;
- Australia decreased by 3 per cent; and
- Japan decreased by 7 per cent; the first decline in over a year.