Deal activity (mergers & acquisitions [M&A], private equity, and venture financing deals) in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region continues to bear the brunt of the ongoing global geopolitical issues and volatile market conditions on the back of rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in some of the key markets such as China. Consequently, the region witnessed a 5.6% year-on-year (YoY) decline in deal activity during January-November 2022, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database reveals that a total of 14,937 deals were announced in APAC during January-November 2022 compared to 15,831 deals announced during the same period last year.

The number of venture financing, private equity and M&A deals declined by 3.5%, 23.6% and 6.2% respectively during January to November 2022 compared to the same period of 2021.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The decline could be attributed to the subdued activity in several key markets in the APAC region as volatile market conditions take a toll on the deal-making sentiments.”

Australia, Hong Kong and Malaysia were among the key APAC market to witness decline. Deals volume for Australia, Hong Kong and Malaysia declined by 11.6%, 23.3% and 14.1%, during January-November 2022 compared to January-October 2021, respectively. Meanwhile, India, Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia recorded improvement of 8.6%, 10.3%, 3%, and 10.8%, respectively.

On the other hand, China, which is the top APAC market by deals volume, registered a double-digit decline. The number of deals announced in China declined by 18.3% during January to November 2022 compared to same period in 2021.

Bose concludes: “Uncertainty in China over its COVID policies seems to be the major pain point for the country’s deals landscape. It would be interesting to see how China’s approach towards easing the restrictions and the sudden spurt in new COVID-19 cases will shape up the country’s as well as the region’s deal activity in the coming months.”