Asia M&A Conference: Key insights and trends

In November 2022, Herbert Smith Freehills organised its first hybrid regional conference themed – New Priorities, New Prospects and the Changing Dimensions of APAC M&A. Asia corporate partners, guest speakers and clients reflected on mergers and acquisitions activity in the current economic environment and discuss what's more to come in our Asia M&A Conference. 

Over 200 clients from a wide range of sectors and organisations, including investment institutions, private equity funds, state-owned enterprises,  technology and internet firms attended the hybrid conference in person in Singapore and Beijing, as well as virtually online.

We conducted polling with business and legal leaders across Asia during the various panel and discussion sessions. Here is a key summary of the key takeaways: 

Participants believe:

• Best M&A opportunities in Southeast Asia are in Indonesia
• The two most attractive sectors over the next 12 months rated by private equity investors are technology and infrastructure
• The two biggest challenges for technology M&A transactions in Asia are valuation and geopolitical conflicts
• The energy transition is driving the growth of the M&A market in Asia to a large extent 

Topical key trends in Asia cross-border investment drawn from discussions during the conference include:

• ESG investment and responsible investment
• Increasing investments in energy and digital infrastructure
• Energy transition
• Compliance with foreign investment regulations
• Growth of warranty and indemnity insurance
• Stricter data and network security compliance requirements
• Mitigating and tackling IP risks associated with Cross-Border M&A
• Increase in regulatory interest

To see more details on each of the key trend above, please visit The Challenging Dimensions of Asia M&A by clicking here.