Asia-Pac's targeted M&A volume surged 3% to $348.8b

But activity dropped 9% to 6,753 deals.

According to Dealogic, Asia Pacific (ex Japan) targeted M&A volume was $348.8bn in the first nine months of 2013, up 3% from $337.2bn in the comparable 2012 period. Activity dropped 9% year-on-year to 6,753 deals.

o 3Q 2013 volume of $127.1bn via 2,265 deals was up 5% on 3Q 2012 ($121.3bn via 2,434 deals)

Singapore recorded the largest year-on-year drop in the SE Asia region, down 54% to $13.2bn in the first nine months of 2013 from $28.6bn in comparable 2012. Only one $1bn+ deal was announced in the first nine months of 2013 compared to three in the same period last year.

China led the nationality ranking for the sixth consecutive first nine month period with $156.9bn. Volume was up 20% from $131.0bn year-on-year and marked the highest first nine months volume on record.

China domestic volume totaled $132.8bn, up 13% from $117.3bn in the same period of 2012. The $4.4bn Beijing Xinwei Telecom Techology Co Ltd acquisition by Beijing Zhongchuang Telecom Test Co Ltd on September 27th
was the second largest China targeted deal so far this year.

Asia Pacific (ex Japan) cross region outbound M&A was down 4% in the first nine months of 2013 ($72.2bn) compared with $75.1bn in the same period of 2012.

Oil & Gas remained the largest targeted sector for the region’s outbound M&A with $27.7bn, although this was down 20% from $34.6bn in the same 2012 period.