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Deal Making in 2021 –
A deep dive into the Asia Pacific landscape

The uncertainty and disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020 sent organizations rushing to access liquidity that resulted in an unprecedented transfer of capital between savers and borrowers.

In the meantime, after a six-month hiatus, both Q3 and Q4 surpassed $1 trillion in deals, a 90 percent increase on the first half of the year. But how does the deal making landscape look as Q1 2021 comes to an end? Join Deals Intelligence and IFR as they explore the Q1 2021 deal making landscape and offer exclusive insights and commentary into what is yet to come.


  • Asia Pacific, excluding Japan, investment banking fees reached an estimated US$6.8 billion during the first quarter of 2021, an 18.4% increase from the comparative period last year, making it the highest start to a year since records began in 2000. Equity capital markets (ECM) fees, which accounted for 40.1% of Asia’s investment banking fee pool, totaled US$2.74 billion, up 134.7% from a year ago and the strongest first quarter period since records began in 2000.


  • Deal making activity involving Asia Pacific companies, excluding Japan, totaled US$269.2 billion during the first quarter of 2021, a 52.9% increase from a year ago, making it the highest first quarter period since 2016. Majority of the deal making activity involving Asia Pacific targeted the High Technology sector which accounted for 17.6% market share worth US$47.3 billion, more than a three-fold increase in value from a year ago. This is the highest first quarter period for Asian-involvement M&A activity targeting High Technology sector since records began in 1980.


  • Asia Pacific, excluding Japan, ECM activity saw its strongest-ever start to a year, raising a total of US$109.6 billion during the first quarter of 2021, up 133.7% from a year ago. Asian issuers are tapping the equity capital markets at a record pace with number of issuances witnessing the busiest-ever first quarter period with 817 deals, up 74.6% from the comparative period last year. Initial public offerings (IPO) witnessed the strongest start since records began in 1980 and raised US$38.7 billion in proceeds, up 139.1% from the first quarter last year, as number of IPOs grew 70.4% from a year ago.  High Technology sector accounted for 22.6% market share of Asia Pacific’s ECM proceeds, raising US$24.7 billion, a seven-fold increase from the first quarter of last year.
Event Info
Date:  6th May 2021
Time: 1PM HKG/SGT | 3PM AEST
Location:  ON24
Topic:  Deal Making in Asia

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Elaine Tan
Senior Analyst, Deals Intelligence - Refinitiv


Elaine Tan, Senior Analyst for Deals Intelligence in Asia Pacific, including Japan and China, is responsible for communicating broad M&A, capital markets, private equity trends in the region through quarterly research reports and the financial media.  She maintains important initiatives for Deals Intelligence in Asia Pacific including our close partnership with the South China Morning Post, building presence in key markets such as mainland China / Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Japan and Australia, and has been quoted in media outlets that highlight our deals information. Prior to her role, Elaine has worked in the financial data/research industry encompassing investment banking deals, investor relations and human resource consulting work.



Steve Garton
Editor - IFR Asia

Steve Garton is Asia editor at IFR, where he is responsible for all editorial content in the Asia Pacific region. He leads a team of reporters and editors in Tokyo, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney, focusing on capital market financings across the region.


Steve has covered bond, loan and equity markets in Asia since he moved to Hong Kong in 2005, and has hosted seminars at the IMF and ADB annual meetings, as well as HKEX conferences and other industry events. Before joining IFR, he spent more than 8 years at UK publishing house Euromoney Institutional Investor, writing and editing for various financial publications in London and then Hong Kong. He is married with three children.


The International Financing Review (IFR) is published by Refinitiv, formerly the financial and risk division of Thomson Reuters. It is known as the leading provider of intelligence on international capital markets financings, offering real-time, daily and weekly news on major debt and equity offerings to a professional audience. IFR’s flagship weekly magazine has been printed since 1974, and the Asian edition since 1997. All of IFR’s coverage is also available to users of Refinitiv’s Eikon desktop.


Moderator- Catherina Guinto-Roldan
Director, Asia Pacific Contributions - Refinitiv

Catherina Guinto-Roldan is the Director for Asia Pacific Contributions within Refinitiv’s Contributor Relations & Capital Markets Insight, who works with thousands of current and prospective contributing desks in the region. Covering contributed content across M&A, Equities, Bonds, Loans, Private Equity, Research & Estimates, Funds and OTC Pricing, Catherina currently leads her team located in various parts of Asia Pacific & Japan as they serve as the primary liaison to the contributor community in the region to keep the data flowing through Refinitiv’s platform.


Catherina has twenty years worth of experience in the financial and information services industry. She started her career as Research Analyst for Mergers & Acquisitions at Thomson Financial and has managed the M&A Research team for Asia, Europe and eventually moved to Japan. She eventually managed the Japan Deals Contributor Relations team for Thomson Reuters and was later named the Head of Japanese Contributions and OTC Asia, followed by head of Asia Contributions.