In this annual ranking, ALB picks the leading law firms for M&A work in the region. Ranked law firms stand out in their respective jurisdictions for the quality of work, and size and profile of deals, as well as clients.

M&A activity in Asia has remained robust through 2022 and is firmly on the path to recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though the total number and value of transactions were lower in the first half of the year compared with a year earlier for some countries in the region, activity continued to rebound when compared to the first half of 2020, at the onset of the pandemic.

And yet, despite a robust recovery from the lows experienced in the first half of 2020, geopolitical challenges in the region along with ongoing – albeit sporadic –COVID-19-related restrictions in several locations had a direct impact on dealmaking activity in the Asian region overall and, specifically, in the Asia Pacific.

“Despite major geopolitical and financial headwinds, Asia-Pacific (APAC) M&A activity in H1 2022 has been robust, according to the analysis of M&A data by EY teams,” said Big Four accounting firm and consultancy EY in a report it released in mid-August.

“Domestic M&A transactions declined in the first half of the year, and there is little prospect of a significant rebound in the short term. However, investor sentiment is still strong and activity in certain segments remains high. If some adverse factors – such as COVID, weak stock markets and regulatory and geopolitical concerns – can start to ease, investor confidence will gradually recover.”

— David Brown, PwC

It is not all good news. Mainland China, long a driver of growth, has seen a noticeable freeze in activity. Analysts at another Big Four accounting firm, PwC, reported that the value of the transactions in mainland China during the first half of 2022 fell to $236.7 billion, a half-year low last seen in 2014.

“Domestic M&A transactions declined in the first half of the year, and there is little prospect of a significant rebound in the short term,” said David Brown, who leads PwC’s deals business for Asia Pacific.

Despite the challenges, PwC says that investor sentiment is still strong.

“Activity in certain segments remains high. If some adverse factors – such as COVID, weak stock markets and regulatory and geopolitical concerns – can start to ease, investor confidence will gradually recover.”

Figures from EY show that 648 deals worth $403 billion took place during the first half of 2022 in the Asia Pacific. The figure, if contrasted with the report by PwC, shows that M&A activity in China still accounts for over half of all M&A in the Asia Pacific region.

“Asia-Pacific companies across sectors are experiencing increasing pressure to transform their businesses to keep pace with rapidly evolving consumer preferences; digital disruption; and environment, social and governance (ESG) issues. Despite economic headwinds, CEOs across Asia-Pacific are focused on the long term and are pursuing trans-actions that set up their organisations for future growth,” said Yew-Poh Mak, Asia-Pacific strategy and transactions leader at EY.

CHINA

Chinese investors continue to look abroad for acquisitions, while the central government is also encouraging Chinese firms to invest overseas as part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, according to PwC, the value of the transactions in China during the first half of 2022, fell to levels not seen since 2014.

The fall in the number and value of M&A transactions is also aligned with a fall in mega deals, transactions worth more than $1 billion. According to PwC, there were only 22 deals of that type, which is less than half the number of the figure recorded for the second half of 2021.

On the other hand, the figure for private equity (PE) deals fell by almost a quarter reaching $1,185.5 million, according to PwC.

“Domestic M&A transactions declined in the first half of the year, and there is little prospect of a significant rebound in the short term. However, investor sentiment is still strong and activity in certain segments remains high. If some adverse factors – such as COVID, weak stock markets and regulatory and geopolitical concerns – can start to ease, investor confidence will gradually recover,” said David Brown, deals leader for Asia Pacific at PwC.

The Chinese government has indicated a desire to increase its overseas investments, and this could lead to more M&A activity in other countries if companies feel pressured by Beijing’s policies at home.

According to PwC, outbound M&A activity increased by 30 percent during the first half of the year, marked by the acquisition of Aramco Gas Pipelines in Saudi Arabia in a deal worth about $15.5 billion.

As for the outlook for the rest of the year, PwC warns about regulatory uncertainties, the continuous impact of COVID-19 with lockdowns and travel restrictions still in place across China and likely to continue, as well as geopolitical tensions in the region and among important trade partners.

“Various factors, including weak stock and property markets, have inhibited what was an active M&A environment. Unless some of these adverse factors are alleviated, inbound and outbound M&A transactions will remain subdued in the second half of the year. The volume of private equity fund investments will also be slightly lower than in the first half of the year,” said Chris Chan, PwC Mainland China, and Hong Kong financial services deals leader.

INDIA

While China has slowed down, India has picked up.

Dealmaking activity in India is growing steadily, according to figures released by accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton, which show that not only the number of deals increased in the first half of 2022, compared with the first half of 2021, but also the total value of deals. According to Grant Thornton’s data, the number of deals in India rose from 710 to 1,149 year-on-year while the value of those deals more than doubled from $40.7 billion to $104.3 billion.

“This represented a significant 34 percent increase in the overall deal volumes, while values more than doubled - recording a 143 percent increase in the deal values,” said Grant Thorton in a mid-year report.

“Amid macro-economic stress, the overall deal sentiment in India for 2022 is expected to continue given the support from the government on infrastructure spending, supply-side response and key fiscal measures. These measures are expected to provide support to the economy from elevated commodity prices and cap the possibility of a second-round effect of inflation.”

— Shanthi Vijetha, Grant Thornton Bharat

According to the consulting firm, 285 M&A deals were executed during the first half of 2022, accounting for a value of $79.2 billion, while the volume of private equity transactions was of 865, worth $25.1 billion.

The largest deals that took place in India during the first six months of the year, were the merger between HDFC Bank and HDFC, the merger between LTI and Mindtree, Holcim´s assets acquisition by Adani Group, and the deal between Axis Bank and Citicorp.

“Amid macro-economic stress, the overall deal sentiment for 2022 is expected to continue given the support from the government on infrastructure spending, supply-side response, and key fiscal measures. These measures are expected to provide support to the economy from elevated commodity prices and cap the possibility of a second-round effect of inflation,” said Shanthi Vijetha, partner at Grant Thornton Bharat.

ASIA-PACIFIC

The Asia Pacific region saw an increase in dealmaking value during the first half of 2022, compared to pre-pandemic figures. Private equity transactions were the main factor behind the growth of 47 percent.

“Even though capital market conditions have tightened sharply through the first half of 2022, PE firms still have large amounts of cash that will need to be deployed in the latter half of the year (dry powder in Asia-Pacific funds stood at $455.2b in July 2022),” said EY.

“The abundance of private liquidity is likely to play a role in fuelling the APAC M&A market. Some PE funds will use M&A to enter new markets, while others will consolidate and expand their existing footprint. As interest rates rise, I expect to see fundraising shift from growth-oriented, future-value sectors to those with a focus on strength of earn-ings and pricing power, such as private health, education, and real estate,” said Mak, from EY.

For his part, Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst at GlobalData said that the growth in the first half of 2022 in the Asia Pacific region is significant one considers the totals in the region beyond the results that came out from China alone.

“The growth in H1 2022 becomes even more significant despite China, which is the most prominent APAC market, witnessing a decline in deal activity. Meanwhile, several other key APAC markets displayed resilience to the prevailing market volatility and managed to register year-on-year double-digit growth in deal activity in H1 2022.”

According to GlobalData, the number of deals announced during the first half of the year, increased in India by 34.9 percent, Japan by 17.9 percent, Australia by 2.9 percent, South Korea by 27.9 percent, Singapore by 27.6 percent, Indonesia by 31.3 percent and New Zealand by 16.1 percent.

“The number of M&A and venture financing deals increased by 2.2 percent and 19 percent, respectively, whereas the number of private equity deals decreased by 18.7 percent in H1 2022 compared to H1 2021,” GlobalData reported.

As for South Korea, the country has a huge pipeline of M&A deals that are likely to begin materialising in the third quarter of 2022. These are mostly deals that were not executed in the first half of the year.

“South Korea has megadeals worth billions of dollars in the queue, plus a series of huge investment plans recently announced by large corporations,” said Intralinks, an inter-enterprise content management and collaboration solutions company, in a report published in late June.

Meanwhile, the Asian region as a whole could get a boost in the third quarter, KPMG said in a July report.

“Across Asia, M&A activity could get a boost heading into Q3’22 as investors and corporates look to take advantage of the lower valuation environment and tightening funding environment to find inorganic growth opportunities and opportunities to gain market share,” the firm said.

JAPAN

Despite headwinds for M&A activity in the Asia Pacific, Japan also had a rela-tively good first half of 2022.

The number of deals in Japan increased 17.9 percent during the first half of the year compared to 2021, according to GlobalData. During the first quarter of the year alone, Japan accounted for 7 percent of the total value of M&A trans-actions in the Asia Pacific region.

However, data gathered by Bloomberg, shows that the value of deals in Japan during the first half of the year fell about 20 percent compared to the first half of 2021, reaching a total value of about $86.5 billion.

Most of these deals were driven by familiar names. In broad strokes, the most commonly used advisors in transactions, by volume, were Nomura Holdings, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley, and UBS. In terms of the value of deals, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley was the top advisor, with trans-actions worth about $13.6 billion.

THAILAND

Despite a slow beginning of the year in terms of the number and value of deals in Thailand, the second quarter of 2022 saw a recovery in M&A activity. The Southeast Asian nation saw 89 deals during the first half of the year, worth about $2.4 billion.

“The decline in investment activities is underpinned by recent geopolitical developments, ongoing supply chain disruptions and the prolonged Omicron outbreak in Thailand,” KPMG explained, when commenting on the Q1 results in Thailand.

“From an M&A perspective, deal makers continue to closely monitor the interest rate environment and the Thai baht’s performance, which has implications on valuations, access to cheaper capital and foreign exchange exposures,” KPMG added in a report of the Q2 results.

According to KPMG, the financial services sector, industrial manufacturing and healthcare and life sciences sector accounted for 73 percent of the total deals value in Q2.

The Bumrungrad Hospital acquisition by Kiatnakin Phatra Securities and Kiatnakin Phatra Bank, a deal worth about $357.5 million, was the largest transaction recorded in the first half of 2022 in Thailand.

“Major M&A themes, such as portfolio calibration and enhancement, transformation and seeking economies of scale, will continue to dominate the M&A landscape in the second half of this year as investors look to strengthen their competitive positions and find new avenues of growth,” said KPMG.

The consulting firm said that deal-makers in Thailand and abroad will continue to monitor geopolitical tensions and rising inflation “and their consequent impact on supply chains, demand and economic policies.”