Driving Economic Change: The Influence of Chinese Cross-Border M&A
Due to strong and sustained economic growth, Chinese firms have gained global attention with a series of high profile cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A). With the Chinese economy now second only to the USA, surpassing Japan in terms of nominal GDP, this type of deal activity is predicted to soar. Cash-rich Chinese corporates are now spreading their wings abroad and growing market share across the globe.
I recently attended an IntraLinks and mergermarket breakfast discussing this very topic. Entitled “Driving Economic Change: The Influence of Chinese Cross-Border M&A” explored how domestic and international M&A will affect Chinese economic growth.
Held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Singapore, set in distinctive Peranakan architecture, the event attracted over 90 senior M&A dealmakers from across the region. A panel of senior professionals shared their insight and experience with the audience, discussing the future of private equity M&A activity, the outbound trend in Energy and Mining and the regulatory environment in China.
Intercontinental Hotel, Singapore
Patricia de Leon, Southeast Asia Bureau Chief at mergermarket moderated the session consisting of an impressive panel including:
- David Gowdey, Corporate Development, Head of International, Yahoo! Inc.
- Shankar Athreya, Senior Vice President & Head, Strategic Investments (M&A), Olam International Limited
- Manoj Agarwal, Managing Director, Deputy Head of Corporate Finance Group, Asia, The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V.
- Vishal Thapliyal, Executive Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance Pte Ltd.
- Joseph He, Joint Head of China Practice, WongPartnership LLP
The panel discussion
When it came to discussing the challenges - legal, cultural and language were seen as common obstacles. Additionally, one of the speakers said that the lack of international experience and global management skills in China were two major challenges in cross-border M&A, to help with this corporates are now appointing international staff to compliment the local teams. The speakers then went onto discuss how it is imperative for dealmakers to understand all legal regulations and the different accounting and tax systems in China for completing a successful cross-border M&A transaction.
The breakfast event was really interesting and there was very positive feedback from our guests. With the success of this first breakfast panel in Asia, we will be looking to conduct similar events in other Asia Pacific countries in the near future so please stay tuned!