China to continue driving rapid consumer sector M&A growth this year

SINGAPORE (Jan 30): The global consumer sector is the No.1 candidate for merger and acquisition (M&A) growth this year, according to Baker McKenzie’s latest Global Transactions Forecast.

The study, developed in association with Oxford Economics, predicts global consumer transactions to rise to US$632.6 billion ($829.7 billion) in 2018 compared to US$543.2 billion a year ago, with activity for the latter year driven mainly by digitisation and industry consolidation.

While Baker McKenzie expects M&A growth across all regions in 2018, the law firm notably anticipates Asia Pacific to spike 21% on-year from 2017’s total of US$104 billion, due to rising regional GDP as well as retailers’ pursuit of younger, increasingly internet-savvy consumers.

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