Asia's outbound M&A deal tally surpasses 2015 record

Asia's outbound merger and acquisitions deal value has crossed USD 200 billion mark this year so far, overtaking the total value of transactions in whole 2015.

The M&A deal value this year is set to reach the highest annual deal value since 2001, says a report.

The year 2015 was itself a record breaking year with deals worth USD 199.6 billion by way of 690 deals. But so far this year a total of 479 deals has been announced worth USD 200.2 billion, registering an increase of 0.3 percent over the 2015 annual value and as a consequence this year's deal tally is on set to reach the highest annual deal value on record (since 2001).

The deal which pushed deal value to this record high was conducted by a Chinese bidder Zhongwang International's USD 2.3 billion acquisition of US aluminium manufacturer Aleris.

"So far in 2016, Chinese dealmaking has been the driving force behind Asia's outbound M&A, with 173 deals worth USD 128.7 billion accounting for 64.3 percent of total deal value its highest share on record," Mergermarket said in a research note.

"China's unstoppable outbound M&A spree is driven by the country's effort to seek high-yielding assets overseas and hedge against slowing domestic growth," Mergermarket China editor Yiqing Wang said.

She further noted that the weakening RMB also pushes Chinese deep pocket acquirers to speed up splashing billions of dollars overseas before their currency further depreciate.

"Chinese acquirers expanded their reach to almost each sectors especially high tech industrial, and new areas such as gaming, sports and travel/leisure, far beyond their traditional interest in mining resources/energy sector, she said.

However, concerns are rife as to whether Chinese buyers will slow down their expansion spree amid increasingly tight deal scrutiny from both China and target country's regulatory authorities.