Singapore's total M&A value up 64.3% to US$59.4b in H1

Blackstone’s US$18.7b acquisition of GLP, the largest deal with Singaporean involvement to date, boosted the total.

Overall Singapore announced M&A activity reached US$59.4b so far this year, up 64.3% in value from a year ago, making it the strongest semi-annual period for Singapore-involvement M&A since the record set in H2 2017, Refinitiv revealed. The biggest contributor is Blackstone Group’s US$18.7b pending acquisition of GLP Pte Ltd’s US logistics assets, which is the largest deal with Singaporean involvement on record.

Also read: Blackstone buys GLP's US logistics assets for record US$18.7b

Singapore-targeted M&A activity amounted to US$24.2b, and witnessed the highest-ever first half period, after deal value increased 129.5% from the same period last year. This was bolstered by CapitaLand’s US$7.9b pending acquisition of Ascendas Pte Ltd and Singbridge Pte Ltd’s entire share capital, which is currently the largest domestic Singaporean deal on record.

Total cross-border deal activity amounted to US$21.1b, up 9.1% compared to the same period last year, which is considered the best first half period since 2014.

Singapore’s inbound M&A activity grew 93.2% from a year ago to US$11.2b, whilst outbound M&A activity decreased 26.7 % year-on-year with US$10b in deal value.

Majority of the dealmaking involving Singapore targeted the Real Estate sector, capturing 67% market share and totalled US$39.8b. High Technology took second place, with a 7.9% market share and US$4.7b in deal value, followed by Industrials with 5.2% market share worth US$3.1b.

JP Morgan leads the any Singapore involvement announced M&A league table rankings so far this year, with 44.8% market share and US$26.6b in related deal value. Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) follows in second place with 36% market share, whilst Citi earns the third spot with 34.6% market share.