A total of 12,936 deals (mergers & acquisitions [M&A], private equity, and venture financing) were announced in the Asia Pacific region during the first quarter to the third quarter of 2022, which represents a 2.5% growth compared to 12,618 deals during the same period in 2021.
However, September this year experienced a massive decline in deal activity, reveals data and analytics company GlobalData. An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database reveals that a total of 1,108 deals were announced in the Apac region in September, which is a decline of 22.9% compared to the previous month.
China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia witnessed decline in deal volume by 23.6%, 12.5%, 33.8%, 31.2%, 21.3%, 17.1%, 14.3% and 26.7%, respectively, in September compared to the previous month.
All the deal types under coverage also experienced m-o-m decline. The number of private equity, venture financing and M&A deals declined by 45.8%, 17.4% and 27%, respectively, in September.
Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst at GlobalData says: “The monthly deal activity in the region hit its lowest level for 2022 in September as deal activity suffered a setback in most of the key Apac markets during the month amid volatile market conditions.”
To that end, GlobalData has found that 3Q2022 was the worst-performing quarter in terms of global M&A deal activity with M&A deal value dropping by 48% compared to 3Q2021. In a separate report titled ‘Global M&A Deals in Q3 2022 – Top Themes by Sector’, GlobalData revealed that in 3Q2022, the global markets recorded 8,258 M&A deals worth US$544 billion ($773.6 billion), compared to the 9,605 deals worth US$1.05 trillion recorded in the same quarter of 2021.
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GlobalData found that the technology, media and telecom (TMT) sector continued to dominate M&A deal activity, with 2,467 deals worth US$161 billion recorded in 3Q2022. However, the TMT sector’s deal value dropped by 50% compared to 3Q2021, and deal volume dropped by 22%. This is not unexpected as most sectors saw a decline in deal activity in 3Q2022 compared to 3Q2021.
Sapana Maheria, director of thematic intelligence at GlobalData, comments: “The global M&A markets have started to witness a slowdown in deal activity in 3Q2022. We saw a downward trend in mega deals, where the transaction value was greater than or equal to US$1 billion, with just 115 such deals in 3Q2022 compared to 136 in 2Q2022. This trend will continue into 4Q2022 as we expect the market to experience a global recession next year.”
