Asia Pacific M&A spree to remain buoyant in 2009

NEW DELHI: Notwithstanding the global financial turmoil, the mid-market merger and acquisition activity in the Asia-Pacific region is likely to remain buoyant this year on attractive valuations.

"Asian companies will be buying more mid-market companies in the US and Europe as they become more attractive in terms of value," according to a research survey compiled by Merrill DataSite and merger market.

According to a respondent of the survey, the Asia-Pacific region is most likely to see the greatest increase in mid-market M&A activity this year.

According to the report titled Global mid-market M&A outlook, 68 per cent of respondents expect the attractiveness of mid-market targets to drive the M&A spree this year. "Indeed, for Asian respondents in particular, the mid-market is expected to present significant opportunities," the report added.

Regarding antitrust laws, the report says about half of respondents (51 per cent) expects that these laws would not affect mid-market M&A in countries like India and China. The remaining 49 per cent of respondents are more likely to expect an increase in activity (30 per cent) than a decrease (19 per cent).

Meanwhile, in the case of private equity transactions the Asia-Pacific mid-market would see more private equity activity than North America and Europe, largely because the risk factor is low in this region.

"Overall, respondents expect the Asia-Pacific mid-market to see more private equity activity than North America and Europe, with the majority of each respondent group expecting an increase in activity," the report quoted one of the respondents as saying.