*

Value of announced cross-border deals involving Asia up

25%

year-to-date to $286 bln -LSEG

*

Inbound Japan M&A up 16-fold so far this year to a record

$74

bln -LSEG

*

Businesses have adjusted to cope with higher interest

rates

-lawyer

By Kane Wu and Yantoultra Ngui

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Cross-border

mergers and acquisitions involving companies in the Asia-Pacific

region have recovered this year and are booming in Japan as

businesses seek new growth after adjusting to cope with higher

interest rates.

The total announced value of such deals rose 25%

year-on-year to $286 billion as of Sept. 30, LSEG data showed,

with around 80% of them transacted with an entity outside the

region.

"There has been a notable pick-up in cross-border

transactions as political stability returned to some markets

just as pent up demand for investments and dealmaking and

adjustments to higher interest rates began to drive M&A activity

again," said Andre Gan, a M&A partner at Wong & Partners, a

member law firm of Baker McKenzie in Kuala Lumpur.

Overall, Asia M&A totalled $622 billion in the first nine

months of the year, down 0.2% from the same period in 2023, LSEG

data showed.

The cross-border recovery was partly boosted by a number of

mega-deals, including Canadian firm Alimentation Couche-Tard ( ANCTF )

's $38.5 billion all-cash takeover bid for Japanese

convenience store owner Seven & i Holdings ( SVNDF ), the largest

announced M&A deal globally this year.

Rupert Murdoch-controlled Australian firm REA Group ( RPGRF )

has also been bidding aggressively for British real estate

portal Rightmove, having sweetened its offer to $8.3

billion after three previous proposals were rejected.

Japan is going to drive the region's multibillion-dollar

deals, bankers said, as relaxed corporate governance rules have

made its public companies more open to takeovers, while some of

the local champions are seeking to expand overseas.

Japan inbound M&A surged more than 16-fold so far this year

to a record $74 billion, while outbound deals were up 49% to $50

billion, LSEG data showed.

Texas-headquartered real estate investor Hines, which owned

and operated $93 billion worth of assets as of June 30, is

actively looking for opportunities globally including Asia, its

Asia chief investment officer Ng Chiang Ling told Reuters this

month.

Having acquired some assets in Japan and Singapore this

year, Hines also sees opportunities in Australia, Ng said.

In Southeast Asia, cross-border transactions are picking up.

German insurer Allianz announced in July that it was

planning to buy a majority stake in Singapore's Income Insurance

for about $1.6 billion to strengthen its foothold in Asia.

"Looking forward, 50% of the APAC pipeline is made up of

global cross-border transactions," said Rohit Satsangi, Deutsche

Bank's co-head of M&A, Asia Pacific.

Satsangi said he expected a resurgence of outbound activity

by state-owned companies in China that are searching for

renewable and natural resources assets globally.

A bounce in China would be welcomed by dealmakers. China

outbound deals totalled $14 billion so far this year, down 8%

year-on-year and were at the second-lowest level in the last

decade, LSEG data showed.

Wong & Partners' Gan said the overall outlook for M&A in the

region was expected to improve, including for deals that did not

cross borders.

"Heading into 2025 and 2026, considering the recent easing

of interest rates by the U.S. Fed and conclusion of the U.S.

elections in late 2024, we expect continuing stability to lead

to a resurgence of M&A activity," he said.

($1 = 1.2801 Singapore dollars)