Asia M&A tally hits $16.2 bn in March

Amid the gloomy economic scenario, the $1.8-billion deal in China and the $1.7-billion RIL-RPL deal brought life to merger and acquisition activities in March in Asia, which were dull in the first two months of 2009.

"Asia, excluding Japan, M&A volume totalled $16.2 billion in March 2009, making it the most active month so far this year, but still down by 44 per cent compared to March 2008," a report by global deal tracking firm Dealogic said.

Among the top five deals, the $1.69 billion merger deal of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries and Reliance Petroleum comes at the second place.

China-based Tianjin Port Development Holdings' merger with Tianjin Port Co, valued at $1.81 billion, topped the list of transactions.

China was the most targeted nation with M&A volume of $8.2 billion via 226 deals, accounting for over half of volume in the Asian region. However, the volume fell by 29 per cent compared to March 2008, the report said.

However, the number of deals announced in March dipped by 20 per cent to 606 from the year-ago month. Besides, Asian utility and energy emerged as the most active sector with transactions totalling $2.7 billion via 26 deals.