Singapore Inc flexes its M&A muscle with major overseas push

(Oct 4): Singapore Inc is stirring, with companies from real estate to engineering becoming bolder in their hunt for acquisitions abroad.

Companies in the city-state announced around US$91 billion ($126 billion) of overseas deals this year through September, more than double the US$41.9 billion of transactions for the same period of 2017, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Temasek Holdings and GIC still loom large, but increasingly others are inking their biggest-ever transactions to put Singapore on the world stage.

The flurry of activity shows a new determination by firms to adopt a more aggressive stance amid an escalating trade war between China -- one of Singapore’s closest neighbours -- and the US. An economy that’s forecast to expand next year at the slowest pace since 2016 is also putting pressure on companies to look further afield for growth.

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