Is Singapore market's attractiveness for private equity buyouts fading?

It has been on the slump since 2014, giving way to Indonesia and Vietnam.

Despite the growth in South East Asia's M&A activity, which has seen a US$ 32.8b improvement across 252 deals, M&A in Singapore has slipped. According to Mergermarket trend report, Singapore, a key target market historically for PE buyouts in the region, has been waning in popularity since 2014.

"Indonesia and Vietnam have conversely been receiving more attention, with the former recording six deals worth US$1.3b with the latter claiming six investments totaling US$91m," the report said.

It added, "M&A in Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia saw an increase while Singapore slipped. This is expected to continue this year as family owned companies including Indonesia-based SALIM and Thailand’s Chearavanont have plans to expand their business in emerging countries, according to Mergermarket intelligence."

Meanwhile, the report noted that Indonesia-based Newmont Nusa Tenggara’s 82.2% stake sale to Indonesia-based Amman Mineral Internasional for US$ 2.6bn and worth of US-based Exxon Mobil’s US$ 2.4b takeover of Singapore-based InterOil Corporation were the second and third largest deals in the region last year.

More so, Singapore-based Temasek Holdings’ sale of its 21% stake in Intouch Holdings in Thailand for US$ 1.2bn helped lead this charge alongside Singapore-based Heptagon Micro Optics being sold by GGV Capital, Temasek Holdings and Vertex Ventures Israel for US$ 855m.

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