To the ruler, the people are heaven; to the people, food is. So goes a Chinese proverb. The appetite of China’s companies for cross-border deals contrasts with a regulatory reluctance to approve them. That partly explains why the volume of regional mergers and acquisitions by Asian companies, outside Japan, fell more than half last year, according to Mergermarket data.
Despite companies’ desire to spend outside mainland China, restrictions on risky deals have had a significant effect. US regulators have also become more wary of intellectual property and consumer data issues. Global cross-border merger volumes declined 1.3 per cent compared to the previous year, to $1.32tn.
True, overall Asian M&A was buoyed by a number of large deals, such as the $24.7bn acquisition of Australian property group Westfield’s US and UK assets by France’s Unibail-Rodamco. That deal made the property sector top in M&A volumes in the region. Property markets in Asia, especially Hong Kong, remain robust. Residential prices there are forecast to rise as much as a fifth next year, say consultants JLL.