Trend Cross-border M&A binds the six to Asia's advanced economies and the United States

Summary

This trend describes cross-border M&A tying the six Southeast Asian growth markets closely to advanced economies in Asia and to the United States. Singapore, Japan, the United States and South Korea are the four most frequent sources of cross-border deals into the group. Together these four account for just over half of all such transactions from 2017 to 2024. The report reads this as evidence of deep regional and international investment links rather than a widely diversified global inflow. It suggests that the growth markets' access to deal capital depends heavily on a small circle of advanced partners.