A total of 11,881 deals (mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity and venture financing) were announced in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region during January to October 2023, a year-on-year (YoY) decline of 19.5% in terms of volume compared to the announcement of 14,761 deals during the same period in the previous year, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database reveals that all the deal types under the coverage witnessed YoY decline in deal volume during January-October 2023.

The number of M&A deals decreased by 11.6% during January-October 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. Meanwhile, the volume of private equity deals and venture financing deals were down by 18.7% and 26.3%, respectively, YoY during January-October 2023.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Akin to other regions and the global trend, the deal activity in the APAC region suffered a setback due to several global uncertainties. Most of the key markets in the region experienced decline.”

For instance, China, which is the top APAC market in terms of deals volume, witnessed the number of deals announced in the country decline by 13.3% during January-October 2023 compared to January-October 2022.

Other key APAC markets such as India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and New Zealand also recorded YoY decline in deals volume by 26.1%, 17.3%, 22.3%, 29.5%, 21.3%, 22.5%, 38.7% and 17%, respectively, during January-October 2023.

Bose adds: “Although the subdued deal activity in the APAC region was in line with the global trend, it was relatively better compared to other regions.”

For instance, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South and Central American regions saw the number of deals fall by 28.2%, 19.8%, 26.5% and 29.8%, respectively, during January-October 2023 compared to January-October 2022. This is relatively higher compared to the decline in deals volume experienced in the APAC region during the same period.