For the first time, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the Asia-Pacific region touched the US$1-trillion mark, which Chinese deals taking up the bulk of the transactions this year, data released by Thomson Reuters showed.
The data, however, noted that while the deal activity jumped to a record US$1.1 trillion, M&A fees dropped 1.8 percent to US$3.7 billion, which reflects an increase in less lucrative corporate restructurings.
The M&A deals in Asia accounted for 21 percent of global value, still lower than the nearly 50 percent for deals in the Americas region, Reuters has reported.
Among the top deals this year were the US$33.7 billion combination of assets of China’s three main telecom operators and the US$15.4 billion bn purchase by Li Ka-shing’s Hutchison Whampoa of British mobile phone company O2.
The report, however, noted that while a surge in Chinese cross-border deals has helped M&As in Asia Pacific cross USD1tr, Chinese banks still rank low in terms of fees.
The data released by Thomson Reuters showed that CITIC Securities, China’s biggest investment bank, only ranked 11th in the Top 20 M&A advisers in the region. – BusinessNewsAsia.com