The Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor, an accurate forecast of future mergers and acquisitions (M&A) announcements, forecasts a six per cent increase in the total number of M&A deals to be announced globally in 1H 2017 compared to 1H 2016, setting a new record for annual first half global announced deal count.
The APAC region, with 44 per cent year-over-year (YoY) growth in early-stage M&A activity in Q4 2016, is the top performing region for early-stage M&A activity, and is set to contribute heavily to 1H 2017’s expected record deal count, with strong performances from India, Southeast Asia, Australia and Japan. This level of YoY growth in early-stage M&A activity is also the highest in APAC for almost five years. In terms of sectors, Financials, Consumer & Retail and Healthcare will fuel the growth in announced APAC M&A deals in Q2 2017.
“While almost all parts of APAC showed double-digit YoY growth, India once again proved to be the fastest growing country in the region, a position it has held for three consecutive quarters, with YoY growth of 100 per cent,” said Philip Whitchelo, VP Strategy and Product Marketing at Intralinks.
Mr. Whitchelo added, “Other parts of APAC contributing to the significant growth that we are seeing in early-stage M&A activity include Southeast Asia which is up 49 per cent, Australia up 47 per cent and Japan up 33 per cent.”