Singapore's M&A market 2nd most attractive

Singapore is the world’s second most attractive market for mergers and acquisitions due to its highly developed infrastructure, availability of significant assets for purchase and business-friendly environment, according to Ernst & Young.

The annual M&A Maturity Index ranks 148 countries on their ability to attract both domestic and cross-border M&A deals. Coming in first was the United States, while the United Kingdom follows in third position and Hong Kong in fourth.

“Southeast Asia has emerged as an increasingly important global investment destination and Singapore serves as its deal structuring hub,” said Luke Pais, partner of transaction advisory services at Ernst & Young in Singapore.

The accounting group said that Singapore was also seen as a favourable location from which Asian companies plan their investments into western markets as well as other emerging markets such as Africa and South America.

Singapore’s M&A scene has been active -- the latest being a proposed US$6 billion ($7.49 billion) takeover of Tiger Beer maker Asia Pacific Breweries by Dutch brewer Heineken.

According to Ernst & Young’s rankings, Asian countries now comprise half of the top ten M&A locations. South Korea ranked fifth, while China came in at ninth and Japan at tenth.

The rankings are based on an analysis of a country’s regulatory, political, economic and financial environments, along with its technological capability, socio-economic characteristics, infrastructure and assets.