Deal Drivers: APAC provides an in-depth review of M&A activity in 2025.

Juggernaut Chinese deals shape APAC M&A market

Fewer deals, more dollars: that was the defining story for APAC M&A activity in Q1 2025. Deal volume fell to 2,316 transactions, a year-on-year decline of 12% and marking the lowest quarterly deal count since Q3 2022. This slowdown was, however, offset by a surge in aggregate deal value. Q1 registered an impressive US$276bn, a remarkable 87.9% year-on-year increase that owed almost everything to a handful of juggernaut transactions in China.

Financial intervention

Financial services blew past every other sector to record the highest aggregate value. The industry saw US$90.5bn worth of deals in Q1, a more than sevenfold increase year-on-year and more than double the typically-dominant TMT sector. This came despite volume in financial services being flat year-on-year at only 156 deals, making it only the seventh busiest sector by this metric.

Big Four

APAC’s largest deal of Q1 saw Bank of China (BOC), one of the ‘Big Four’ state banks, receive a US$22.7bn capital infusion. China’s finance ministry subscribed to new shares, boosting BOC’s core capital as part of a coordinated government move reinforcing key banks to support economic stability.

Published in association with Datasite. The report is also available on datasite.com.