Singapore drives over half of Southeast Asia's M&A activity

SINGAPORE: Singapore contributed over half of Southeast Asia’s total mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal value in the first quarter, Singapore Business Review reported, citing a report from Datasite. The report revealed that the city-state contributed seven of the 10 biggest deals announced during the quarter, including each of the top five.

A major part of the surge came from agriculture-related assets, with deal value in the sector rising to S$3.21 billion (US$2.5 billion), up from just S$203.31 million (US$158 million) in the same quarter last year, partly due to efforts to achieve supply chain security and integration.

Real estate came next at S$2.06 billion (US$1.6 billion) in deal value, although this marked a 36.8% drop compared to the same period last year, while EMU fell by 57.5% to S$1.93 billion (US$1.5 billion).

In terms of volume, the technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) sector had the most deals with 41 transactions, though this was 12.8% lower than last year. Financial services went against the downward trend, increasing by 35.7% to 19 deals as investors sought stability.

Meanwhile, the Eurozone Member Union (EMU) recorded a slight rise to 15 deals, up 7.1% from last year, despite a significant drop in deal value. /TISG 

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