Singapore ranked 2nd after Hong Kong in an international ranking of preferred country for Mergerss and Acquisitions (M&A) and Initial Public Offering (IPO), legal company Baker McKenzie exposed.

Based on a review by Oxford Economics, Singapore scored 8.8 in regards to transaction attractiveness. The nation also ranked 2nd in 2016.

The company stated that in Singapore, overall IPO activity including Singapore is anticipated to increase by as high as 30% YoY from $6.22 b (US$ 4.57 b) in 2017 to $8.14 b (US$ 5.98 b) in 2018.

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Particularly, cross-border IPO deals might increase by 58% YoY from $2.32 b (US$ 1.7 b) in 2017 to $3.68 b (US$ 2.7 b) in 2018.

3 different offers with appraisals of $2.72 b (US$ 2b) additionally drove M&A activity greatly in 2017.

The report anticipates overall M&A worths in Singapore to hit $31.44 b (US$ 23.1 b) in 2018 and to peak at $37.3 b (US$ 27.4 b) in 2019.

The overall market value of local M&An activities is seen to increase by more than 100% YoY from $7.76 b (US$ 5.7 b) in 2017 to $17.29 b (US$ 12.7 b) in 2018.

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