|
By Matthew Quinn
US-based businesses led the world in acquiring emerging markets companies in the second half of 2009, nearly tripling the number of acquisitions made by the second-ranked country, according to a report released Monday by KPMG.
The study found that US companies completed 71 deals in emerging and high-growth markets in the second half 2009, while UK-based companies acquired 25 companies during the same period. US and Australian companies were the most popular targets for emerging and high-growth market companies looking to expand abroad, with 16 acquisitions made in each country.
Overall, emerging market companies made 102 acquisitions in the second half of 2009, up from 78 during the first half of the year, according to KPMG, which tracked completed deals in which an acquirer took at least a 10 percent shareholding interest. China maintained its position as the top acquirer among emerging market countries with 30 acquisitions during the period.
"Chinese companies have weathered the recent economic crisis well and have the cash on hand to hit the acquisition trail the hardest," said Mark Barnes, principal-in-charge of KPMG's US-High Growth Markets practice. "We saw a particular focus on commodity and natural resource acquisitions in the second half of 2009, reflecting China's need to satisfy its growing domestic energy demand."
Middle East companies were the second most active, acquiring 17 companies in developed economies. India and Russia each acquired 13 companies in developed economies.
Conversely, businesses from developed nations slowed their pace of acquiring in emerging markets, striking just 216 deals in the second half, down nearly 17 percent from the first half.
The study found that Indian companies (19) were the leading targets for US companies. In addition to India, US companies made the majority of their high-growth market acquisitions in Central and Eastern Europe (12), China (10), Korea (8), and Brazil (7) in the second half of 2009.
Trackback(0)
 |
in Deal Talk by 
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
