SoftBank and ChemChina drive Asia Pacific region to record M&A levels
SoftBank’s £24.3bn offer for UK-based Arm has helped 2016 become a record year for outbound M&A activity from the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
Some $202.5bn worth of deals have been announced so far this year – already beating the whole figure for 2015, $187.1bn, which was a record year.
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However, the Dealogic figures show that the number of deals has fallen considerably. The 825 announced is down from 1,327 at the same point last year.
The value figure has been driven by SoftBank’s Arm offer, as well as ChemChina’s $46.7bn bid for Syngenta, the largest outbound APAC deal on record.
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Europe has been the target of $134.6bn of the deals. This value is up 38 per cent on the previous annual record, $97.5bn, set in 2015.
In contrast, US outbound deal values have dropped to $86.5bn – from $239.7bn in the same period last year.