<article>Early-stage mergers &amp; acquisitions (M&amp;A) activity is increasing in Asia-Pacific (APAC) by 9 per cent year-over-year with the number of deal announcements in the region expected to rise in Q1 2017 compared to the same period last year.</article>

Early-stage mergers &amp; acquisitions (M&amp;A) activity is increasing in Asia-Pacific (APAC) by 9 per cent year-over-year with the number of deal announcements in the region expected to rise in Q1 2017 compared to the same period last year.
The growth is due largely to a surge in early-stage M&amp;A activity in India, which rose by 190 percent year-over-year, according to the latest Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor report released by <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/intralinks" target="_blank">Intralinks Holdings</a>.
The Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor also forecasts that the global number of announced deals in FY 2016 will be around 3 per cent higher than FY 2015. This would make 2016 the new peak for the number of global deal announcements, surpassing the previous peak year of 2007. The Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor is also forecasting a 5 per cent increase in the total number of M&amp;A deals to be announced globally in Q1 2017 compared to Q1 2016.
Key countries across the APAC are showing indicators suggestive of growth in early-stage M&amp;A activity, compared to the same period last year.
The Southeast Asia region, which includes Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, has seen activity increase by up to 14 per cent, with Singapore being a relatively subdued contributor to this growth, increasing by just 4 percent.
North Asia (China, Hong Kong and South Korea) is down by 6 per cent due to declining levels of early-stage M&amp;A activity in Hong Kong. Also turbulence in the mainland Chinese economy is a significant contributor to this but Barclays <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.investmentbank.barclays.com/our-insights/chinas-corporates-ma-trends.html" target="_blank">reports</a> that Chinese cross-border M&amp;A is proving resilient despite global declines in M&amp;A volumes.
According to Barclays, 2016 has been a record year so far for outbound M&amp;A for Chinese companies. With China’s economy maturing and shifting away from its focus on manufacturing towards services, Chinese enterprises are exploring overseas acquisitions to build a base for long term growth.
Meanwhile, India has seen early-stage M&amp;A increase 190 per cent, Australia has decreased by 3 per cent and Japan has decreased by 7 per cent.
Philip Whitchelo, VP Strategy and Product Marketing at Intralinks, said, “The standout performer in the region so far this year has been India, which posted growth in early-stage M&amp;A activity of 190 percent year-over-year in Q3 2016, following double-digit year-over-year growth in each of the preceding three quarters.”
He adds, &#8220;As the fastest-growing large economy in the world at the present time, India’s M&amp;A market continues to benefit from perceptions that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is intent on continuing to pursue structural and fiscal reforms and encouraging inbound investment.&#8221;
Intralinks credits that that sector contributing the most to growth in Q1 2017 of announce APAC M&amp;A deals is technology, media/entertainment and telecommunications (TMT), industrials and healthcare. The TMT sector is looking particularly healthy, with early-stage M&amp;A activity increasing by 115 per cent year-over-year.
Whitchelo comments: “With the TMT sector in APAC looking healthy, we foresee this being one of the top three sectors in the region for year-over-year growth in Q1 2017, with the others being industrials and healthcare.”
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Early-stage M&A activity is increasing in the Asia-Pacific by 9 per cent year-over-year, with the number of announced deals expected to rise in Q1 2017 compared to Q1 2016. 

Asia-Pac M&A deal activity to rise in Q1 2017: Intralinks

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