Recent headlines such as “With M&A Hit, Wall Street Bankers Keep Busy With Stock Sales” (Bloomberg, 28 May), “Bankers fear sustained M&A slump: ‘It’s impossible without face-to-face meetings’” (Financial News, 8 June) and “Pandemic fears grip M&A as deal making slumps to 23-year low in Europe” (MarketWatch, 30 June) suggest a very depressed market for corporate transactions this year.
However, the numbers in Asia-Pacific tell a different story:
While some mega-mergers may have been put on hold due to difficulties in performing due diligence etc., there are still enough smaller subsidiary buy-outs, major shareholder de-listings and intra-industry consolidation mergers to keep the rate of activity at the highest since the global financial crisis. Hong Kong in particular is a stand-out, as shown in the chart.