Asia-Pacific records highest volume of 'billion-dollar' deals

The Asia-Pacific region attracted as many as 89 billion-dollar deals — the highest total on record — worth over $292 billion so far this year, says a report. “Asia-Pacific deals over $1 billion reached $292.1 billion via 89 deals in 2009, up 44 per cent on 2008, making it the highest total on record,” global deal tracking firm Dealogic said.

Asia-Pacific attracted nearly one-fifth of the entire pie of ‘billion-dollar’ deals across the world, so far this year, Dealogic said. “Asia-Pacific targeted deals accounted for almost 20 per cent of global deals over $1 billion, up 9 percentage points on last year.”

Inbound cross-regional deals, however, accounted for just 12 per cent of total Asia Pacific volume, down 4 percentage points compared to that in 2008, the report added.

Within the Asia-Pacific region, Australia was the most targeted nation as it attracted $128.2 billion through billion-dollar deals announced during the year. The $58-billion merger of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto iron ore assets, was the major reason that propelled the Australia targeted deal volume to more than $128 billion, Dealogic said.

India was one of the top 10 nations in terms of billion-dollar transactions, as it attracted billion dollar deals amounting to over $7.4 billion.

Other than Australia and India, the top 10 targeted nations in terms of billion-dollar deals include Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

Of the top 10 nations, five witnessed a decline in deal volume on a year-on-year basis and four saw an increase despite recessionary fears, the report said.