Bankers Chase More M&A in Malaysia Amid Stock Market RallyThe volume of mergers and acquisitions has surged 87% from a year ago to $8.3 billion, while APAC as a whole is down 15%, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Malaysia, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has drawn interest as investors consider alternatives to China. The country attracted 83.7 billion ringgit of approved investment in the first quarter, up 13% from a year earlier. More should come, helped by an agreement with Singapore to develop Southeast Asia’s first cross-border special economic zone.
Some other countries are still grabbing more international attention due to their size and depth of markets, including India and Japan, where dealmaking activity is booming. South Korea is another busy market, while transactions in Singapore have recently picked up too. Meanwhile, tycoon Vincent Tan is considering taking private Kuala Lumpur-listed Berjaya Food Bhd., the owner of Starbucks Corp.’s Malaysian business, Bloomberg has reported.
Digital infrastructure assets, particularly data centers, have attracted interest. GDS Holdings Ltd. agreed to sell a stake in its data-center business outside of China, which includes assets in Malaysia, to alternative asset managers Hillhouse Investment and Boyu Capital for $587 million. Last year, DigitalBridge Group Inc. bought a controlling stake in Aims Group from Time Dotcom Bhd.
Malaysian firms are also keen to expand abroad via M&A, according to Hsu Jen Chin, who leads investment banking in Malaysia for CLSA Ltd.