SINGAPORE, June 22 (Bernama) -- Asia Pacific merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, excluding Japan, totaled US$223.3 billion so far this year, dropping 29.5 per cent after a strong first six months in 2011 (US$316.6 billion).

According to Thomson Reuters Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) M&A Preliminary Financial Advisory Review, quarterly volume by deal value, slightly declined 0.9 per cent to US$111.1 billion in the second quarter of 2012 from the last quarter, while deal count slowed down 11.8 per cent to 2,052 transactions.

Despite two mega-deals announced this quarter - DBS Group's US$7.4 billion acquisition of Bank Danamon and Alibaba Group's US$7.1 billion repurchase - the start of 2012 witnessed the lowest semi-annual volume since the first half of 2009 (US$139.4 billion).

The total number of deals announced in the Asia Pacific has fallen 26.2 per cent to 4,379, the slowest semi-annual start by deal count since the first half of 2005 (4,248 deals).

The Asia Pacific's completed M&A activity witnessed its third consecutive quarterly decline in 2Q 2012 as deal value decreased 36.9 per cent from 1Q 2012 to US$64.0 billion, the lowest quarterly volume since 2Q 2009.

-- BERNAMA