The Wall Street Journal
Southeast Asia’s booming growth has turned it into a beacon for merger-and-acquisition activity across Asia.
Thailand, is shining particularly brightly, as its ambitious tycoons indulge in multibillion-dollar shopping sprees and overseas firms are attracted by the country’s growth story. That has helped propel the country, normally a quiet corner in the M&A universe, into the upper echelons of deal activity in Asia. And with Southeast Asia ticking closer to becoming a regional free-trade bloc, the number of deals involving Thailand is set to pick up.
Thailand has emerged as the busiest nation for deal-making in Southeast Asia, according to Dealogic, recording $14.7 billion of M&A activity this year, 66% more than Malaysia, the second-busiest. A year ago, Thailand ranked sixth.
Thailand’s richest man, Dhanin Chearavanont, accounts for a large chunk of the recent activity. In February, his poultry and retailing business, CP All PCL, CPALL.TH -4.11% agreed to pay $6.6 billion for locally based discount chain Siam Makro MAKRO.TH -0.51% PCL. Dealogic’s figures don’t include an even bigger deal he did earlier this year, when he bought 16% of Chinese insurer Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. for $9.4 billion.