Singapore loses crown as best M&A hub

Only 11 deals were made by buyers from high growth markets.

According to KPMG's High Growth Markets International Acquisition Tracker, while Singapore was the most popular Asian target by buyers in high growth economies last year, the state has fallen behind Hong Kong which recorded 14 H2D deals and Japan with 12 deals for the first half of 2012. 

Here's more from KPMG:

In terms of high growth to developed (H2D) deals, deal volume fell from 211 in the second half of last year to 203 for the first half of this year.

H2D deals occur when trade buyers in high growth markets take at least a five percent shareholding in an overseas entity in a developed economy.

Acquisitions of Singapore companies by buyers in high growth markets also fell, with only 11 H2D deals taking place between January and June in 2012.

Mr Vishal Sharma, Head of Asia Pacific M&A, KPMG in Singapore said: “This slower pace of M&A activity is having an impact on transaction markets globally. Our latest set of figures show that the M&A slowdown is not just affecting mature markets - high growth markets are not spared as well.”

Acquisitions of Singapore companies by buyers in high growth markets also fell, with only 11 H2D deals taking place between January and June in 2012.

In comparison, 22 such deals were recorded in the first half of last year and 16 were recorded for the second half.

On the D2H front, the same decline in deal volumes can be observed. D2H deals occur when trade buyers from developed economies acquire shares in entities in high growth markets.

There were 661 such deals in the first half of this year, a 15 per cent drop from the same period last year, when there was 778 deals.Reflecting more cautious sentiments, Singapore trade buyers struck just 55 D2H deals in the first half of 2012, a drop from 77 deals for the second half of last year.

Some 979 global cross-border corporate acquisitions involving emerging, high growth markets were recorded in the first half of 2012.

This deal volume is an 8.6 percent drop from the previous six months, when there were 1,071 deals, said KPMG’s latest High Growth Markets International Acquisition Tracker.

The tracker is produced every six months to give an update of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions, with the current edition featuring deals between January and June 2012. It looks at deal flows between 15 developed economies such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, and 13 high growth economies such as Malaysia, India and China.