Asia-Pacific dealmaking soars, driven by targeted acquisitions in AI

Asia-Pacific mergers and acquisitions have climbed to a four-year high, but the fees paid to bankers are down as prudence prevails, despite improving confidence. One analyst said this is due to the size of the deals. Mega deals — which typically generate larger fees — have dipped 11%, while smaller transactions worth below US$1 billion are leading the recovery. In Singapore, one major contributor was GIC's participation in Anthropic's US$30 billion funding round, making it Asia-Pacific's largest deal so far this year. Technology accounted for more than half of Singapore's deal value. Olivia Marzuki explains.