HONG KONG: Asia's bankers say they expect the hottest trend in global deal-making, IPOs for special-purpose acquisition vehicles , to rocket in the region this year from small beginnings, fuelled by well-resourced investors including private equity firms.
Raghav Maliah, co-head of M&A for Asia ex-Japan at Goldman Sachs, said the significant increase of Asia-focused SPAC involvement has been the most notable feature in the region's M&A this year. First-quarter Asia M&A hit a three-year high of US$279.5 billion, up 37per cent year-on-year, Refinitiv data showed, with private equity-backed deals scoring a record US$40.6 billion.
For example, India's largest renewable energy firm ReNew Power, in which Goldman invested, in February agreed to go public through a merger with a SPAC.Meanwhile Chinese ride hailing giant Didi Chuxing and its Indonesian counterpart Grab have held discussions about the SPAC merger option to go public, Reuters has reported.