Asia has been on the frontline of the coronavirus crisis for over three months. As companies, advisors and investors across the region react to this unprecedented situation, Acuris’s market-leading products provide news, data and analysis to help you make better business decisions.    This report contains a selection of our coverage on how the COVID-19 crisis is impacting different markets in the region produced by our in-country teams of editors and analysts across Asia.

Our 1Q20 report reveals that after nearly ten years of growth, global M&A activity is down 39.1% by value on 1Q19 to USD 563.7bn over 3,685 transactions in 1Q20, and back to levels not seen since the first half of 2013. Both the overall value and number of deals are comparable to those of 1Q08 (USD 592.3bn across 3,744 transactions).   This year is unlikely to repeat the megadeals (> USD 10bn) frenzy of 2019, when 38 such deals were announced. Only eight were announced globally so far in 2020, down from 11 in 1Q19 and 14 in 1Q18. The last.

The rapid spread of coronavirus around the world, coupled with Saudi Arabia’s decision to increase the supply of oil, led to a market panic last week that sent prices of stocks, bonds and asset-backed securities plunging in Europe and North America. Instead of stabilizing markets, the US Federal Reserve’s emergency action on Sunday to cut interest rates to near zero and revive a USD 700bn quantitative easing program pushed stocks down over 10% on Monday as countries closed borders.   Companies, investors and advisors confront widening yield.