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- Japan M&A deals in first half more than triple in value year-on-year
- M&A surge driven by management reforms, shareholder activism and low rates
- Japan is relatively more insulated from global woes, bankers state
- Asia M&A more than doubled to $650 billion in strong rebound
TOKYO/HONG KONG, June 26 (Reuters) – Japan is driving Asia’s M&A rebound in 2025 with a record $232 billion worth of deals in the first half, and bankers expect the trfinish to sustain fuelled by multi-billion dollar take-private arrangements, outbound investments and private equity activity.
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The deals involving Japanese companies more than tripled in value in the first half, while in the same period Asia M&A value reached $650 billion, more than double the amount year-on-year, LSEG data displayed.
Bankers state government calls for better corporate governance, including the privatisation of listed subsidiaries, as well as outbound acquisitions by Japanese firms seeking new growth avenues will keep igniting mega deals.
Moreover, Japan has been relatively insulated from global volatility despite the broader geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, supporting to underpin deals momentum, they state.
“There are many other deals like these on the way and their number is increasing,” stated Kei Nitta, global head of M&A at Nomura Securities.
The long-standing trfinish of Japanese firms seeing abroad for growth opportunities in the face of a shrinking home market has continued despite heightened uncertainty in the global economy.
“Debates over tariffs and foreign conflicts mean that some investment decisions are taking longer than usual and some customers have become more cautious, but we consider appetite for investment itself to remain very strong,” Nitta stated.
Japanese firms themselves have also become more attractive acquisition tarobtains as global firms have reconsidered their supply chains and distribution of resources over the past two years, Nitta added.
However, there are some hurdles that could slow dealbuilding in Japan.
Uncertainty around the global economic outsee has created assessing companies’ future prospects more difficult, leading to a disconnect in valuation expectations between purchaseers and sellers.
This has caapplyd an increasing number of deals to fail, stated Atsushi Tatsuguchi, head of the M&A advisory group at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
As part of the corporate reform drive, firms are under rising pressure to offload non-core business units, with private equity funds increasingly the destination for the hived off parts.
“Carve-outs of operating companies’ non-core assets will continue to be a trfinish in the near term,” stated senior deputy head of M&A advisory at SMBC Nikko Securities, Yusuke Ishimaru.
Bankers state there is a strong pipeline of potential deals involving private equity firms.
“Private equity funds are also seen as promising purchaseers for taking listed companies private,” Ishimaru stated.
Reporting by Anton Bridge and Miho Uranaka in Tokyo, and Kane Wu in Hong Kong;
Editing by Shri Navaratnam
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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