Administration March 8, 2010

U.S. Companies Lead in Emerging Market Acquisitions in 2nd Half of '09

March 8, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - U.S.-based companies led the world in completing merger-and-acquisition (M&A) deals with emerging or high-growth market companies in the second half of 2009, according to KPMG International's latest Emerging Markets International Acquisition Tracker (EMIAT) study.

Reported by

Rebecca Moore

According to a press release, the KPMG study revealed that in the second half of 2009, U.S.-based companies completed 71 emerging and high-growth market acquisitions, while UK-based companies acquired 25 companies during the same period. U.S. and Australian companies were the most popular targets for emerging and high-growth market companies, with 16 acquisitions made in each country.

After the United States and Australia, the most popular targets for E2D deals in the second half of 2009 included the United Kingdom (15), Canada (12), and Germany (10), the press release said. In the first half of 2009, the top high-growth market acquirers of companies in developed economies were China (20), Central and Eastern Europe (13), India (12), Russia and CIS (11), and South Africa (10), according to the study.

Emerging and high-growth market companies made 102 acquisitions in the second half of 2009, up from 78 during the first half of the year. While the KPMG study found that developed-to-emerging (D2E) deals declined overall in the second half of 2009 — down to 216 versus 259 registered in the previous six-month period — emerging-to-developed (E2D) deals increased.

China (30) was the leading emerging market acquirer of companies in developed economies in the second half of 2009, followed by the Middle East (17), India (13), Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (13), and Korea (12). “We saw a particular focus on commodity and natural resource acquisitions in the second half of 2009, reflecting China’s need to satisfy its growing domestic energy demand,” said Mark Barnes, principal-in-charge of KPMG LLP’s U.S.-High Growth Markets practice, in the press release.

The study found Indian companies were the leading emerging and high-growth market targets for U.S. companies. In addition to India (19), U.S.-based companies made the majority of their high-growth market acquisitions in Central and Eastern Europe (12), China (10), Korea (8), and Brazil (7) in the second half of 2009.

In the first half of 2009, the top emerging and high-growth market targets for U.S. companies were located in China (19), Brazil (13), India (13), and Central and Eastern Europe (11).

For D2E deals globally in the second half of 2009, Central and Eastern European companies were the most targeted, with 47 total acquisitions. Other popular targets overall for D2E deals included China (40), India (38), Korea (26), and Brazil (20).

KPMG’s research analyzes deal flows between 12 selected “developed” economies – the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Australia, Israel, Hong Kong and Japan – and 11 selected “emerging” and “high-growth” economies or regions, comprising India, China, Russia, Brazil, South Korea, Vietnam, Macau, South Africa, Nigeria, the Middle East, and Central and Eastern Europe. Only those transactions classed as “completed” between July 2003 and December 2009 in which an acquirer took at least a 10% shareholding in an overseas company were included. Deals that involved backing by a private equity firm or other financial institution were not included.