If mergers and acquisitions are a harbinger of economic activity, then Asia-Pacific might see only as much action as it did last year. According to the data captured by Bloomberg League Table, Asia-Pacific closed March-11 quarter with a total of $158.8 billion in deal volume, up only slightly from $147.6 billion seen in the corresponding quarter last year. There was, however, a slight improvement in the average deal size — 18 per cent increase to $101.6 million — thanks to a 9 per cent fall in the number of deals to 2,217. Interestingly, private equity deals nearly doubled this time around, making up about 15 per cent ($23.75 billion) of all M&A transactions in the region.

Inbound interest rises…

Outbound foreign investment, at about $37.83 billion this quarter, was 4 per cent lower than last year's. Energy was the most popular target sector, with buyers investing close to $13.24 billion in energy targets. Inbound foreign investment, however, saw a sharp increase; inflows were up by about 86 per cent, reaching $27.18 billion. But here it was the industrial sector that was the popular target, attracting about $8.74 billion.

Regionally, China & Australia/New Zealand accounted for nearly half of the M&A activity in the Asia-Pacific, with $40.91 billion and $36.63 billion in deal value respectively. China alone was responsible for approximately a fourth of Asia-Pacific's deal volume, and was the most active country with 725 deals, making up about 29 per cent of the total deals involving Asia-Pacific.

In rankings, Goldman Sachs captured the top spot for advisors in the Asia-Pacific after advising on 25 deals worth a total of $37.1 billion during the year. This included two of Asia-Pacific's top transactions — Reliance Industries sale of operation contracts to BP and Equinox Minerals takeover of Lundin Mining Corp. On the legal advisory side, the top spot by deal volume went to Allen & Overy LLP, which advised on 22 deals worth a total of $29.61 billion.

…in India too

The trend wasn't any different back home, with inbound deals surpassing the outbound deal value by a significant margin. While India saw outbound deals worth $3.72 billion made this quarter, inbound deal value came in higher at about $12.3 billion. Reliance Industries-BP deal worth $7.2 billion, Siemens AG-Siemens India ($1.35 billion) and Reliance Life Insurance-Nippon Life Insurance ($679 million) were among the top inbound deals reported during the quarter. Interestingly, the Reliance-BP deal was the second highest deal (in terms of value) in Asia-Pacific during the quarter. Essar Group's acquisition of Zimbabwe Iron & Steel, Cals Refineries—Cenco and Atas Refineries and RHC Holdings — Dental Corp were among the major outbound deals.

As for India-specific rankings, it was Morgan Stanley that topped, having closed 3 deals worth $7.88 billion. Goldman Sachs (2 deals worth $7.2 billion) and HSBC Bank PLC (3 deals worth $ 2.9 billion) came in next.

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