Singapore bucks regional M&A downtrend with 154% jump in H1 deal value

Singapore

MERGERS and acquisitions (M&A) activity in most South-east Asian countries bucked the overall downtrend in the Asia-Pacific (Apac) ex-Japan for the first half this year, with Singapore recording US$17.1 billion in deals - a 154 per cent jump from a year ago.

Real estate behemoth CapitaLand's US$8.1 billion acquisition of Ascendas-Singbridge from Temasek accounted for almost half the city-state's total and remains the largest deal in Apac ex-Japan for the first six months this year.

"Political uncertainties and clouds over economic growth hav…