Mergers and Acquisition deals in China and India reached record levels in the first half 2010 as foreign and local companies went on a shopping spree for companies in emerging Asia. Various reports compiled by Inchin Closer reveal that energy, healthcare, materials and automobile M&A deals rule the charts in both the power hungry nations. Also while the number and value of outbound investments are soaring, inbound investments into India and China continue to outnumber them, fueling a continued optimism in the region.

While Australia remains China’s destination of choice for outbound investments, with Africa the fastest growing destination, Europe is India’s choice destination for outbound investments. Further analysis revels that while the number of domestic deals have not risen much, valuations of the deals have risen substantially.

China’s outbound deals neared 100 with combined value of US$23.1 billion in the first six months, up 52 percent in terms of number and 48 percent in value year-on-year. A total of 1,884 deals with combined value of US$76.7 billion were made in the first half, up 26 percent and 31 percent year-on-year respectively. The number of large deals increased to 9 deals each with a value over US$1 billion compared with 8 in first half of 2009.

India whose Vedanta Resources is on the cusp of clinching Cairn India’s Energy’s assets in India for US$9.6 billion following government approval too is seeing a surge in M&A deals during the first half of this year. According to reports analysed by Inchin Closer, Indian M&A deals neared US$50 billion already over three times the entire total for 2009 worth about US$16 billion in 2009, down from close to US$40 billion in 2008. There have been 411 M&A deals so far this year, down from 453 deals seen in 2009.