Deal activity in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, including India and China, saw a decrease of 20.4 per cent in 2023, in sync with global trends. According to an analysis of data and analytics firm GlobalData’s database, there has been a decline in all deal types.
A total of 14,193 deals, including mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC), were announced in the region, a drop from 17,824 deals in the previous year, as per the data. M&A deals saw a decrease of 13.5 per cent, while PE and VC deals dropped by 24.7 per cent and 26.3 per cent, respectively.
All major markets in the APAC region saw a decrease in deal activity. China, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and New Zealand experienced a drop in deal volume by 16 per cent, 26.1 per cent, 15.9 per cent, 22.4 per cent, 30 per cent, 21.3 per cent, 25.9 per cent, 34.2 per cent and 13.6 per cent, respectively, compared to the previous year, 2022.
This comes after an earlier GlobalData report that stated that there has been a significant decline in VC funding in India, both deal volume and funding value experiencing a downturn in the first three quarters of the year (Q1-Q3). The first three quarters of the year recorded 811 VC funding deals amounting to $5.5 billion, a 42.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decrease in deal volume and a 70.4 per cent drop in disclosed funding value, in stark contrast to the 1,405 VC funding deals worth $18.5 billion announced during the same period in 2022.
Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, stated that there was a global decrease in deal-making activities across all categories in 2023. Particularly, PE/VC firms faced a significant drop in their operations. The decline was due to various factors including macroeconomic challenges, inflation, high interest rates, recession fears, and ongoing geopolitical conflicts, which heavily impacted investor sentiment.
GlobalData’s data, analysis and solutions are used by around 4,000 of the world’s largest companies, including 70 per cent of FTSE 100 and 60 per cent of Fortune 100 companies.
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