 Year-End 2006
Reaching new highs
2006 was indeed a high flying year in which we witnessed a significant uplift in total deal values across the region. At the same time, average deal values grew across the board (14.7 percent compared to 2005). In what may be a preview of things to come, a multitude of big ticket deals took place. Most notable were in Australia, India and Malaysia each of which experienced more than 50 percent growth. All three benefited from the backdrop of strong underlying economies and a pick-up in both local and cross-border M&A activity. Chinese M&A became more of a domestic story in 2006 amidst buoyant market sentiment and additional local players joining the market for deals.
The long-term uptrend in deal volumes across Asia remains intact, posting a 3.1 percent increase across the region compared to 2005, with China, India, New Zealand and Taiwan all posting double-digit volume growth.
Private equity funds confirmed their place in the regional M&A landscape, with the big global funds enlarging their footprint and average deal size. At the same time, local funds continued to emerge as this asset class gained local market acceptance. The increase in private equity activity has been most notable in Australasia. This has had the effect of driving up competition for deals and transaction multiples in that market significantly.
The Oil and Gas sector continues to drive a significant proportion of regional cross border deals as emerging economies seek to secure the resources necessary to feed their burgeoning industries. The first special feature in this issue analyses the global challenges in the Oil and Gas sector and what these mean for M&A activity in Asia Pacific in the medium term.
As the Australian M&A market hit the headlines in 2006, due to unprecedented levels of activity, we have included a special feature on the drivers and prospects for M&A in Australia. We discuss several general factors causing this, such as the underlying economic trends, and focus on three key themes: the impact of the increasing role of private equity, the impact of the financial and resource sectors on overall corporate strength and hence on the Australian share market, and how global infrastructure funds have helped reshape the market.
PricewaterhouseCoopers M&A Professionals
The Asia-Pacific region is characterised by a diversity of cultures, business practices and regulatory environments. Executing successful transactions in this market requires a combination of in-depth local knowledge and an integrated regional network. PricewaterhouseCoopers has experienced professionals in all major territories in the region within our Transaction Services, Tax Services (China M&A Tax and Hong Kong M&A Tax) and Corporate Finance practices to provide a wide range of integrated, uniform and high quality services to any potential investor in the Asia-Pacific region.
Get Your Copy
Read more by downloading our Asia-Pacific M&A Bulletin (Year-End 2006) (pdf, 2.6MB) for your reference. Alternatively, you may launch and view the pdf excerpts for each section or jurisdiction below:
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Special Features
North Asia
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South Asia
Australasia
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