Highlights: China overtook the U.S. as the world’s top destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first half of 2012, receiving $59.1 billion in foreign direct investment versus $57.4 billion received by the U.S in the same period. By comparison, in 2011, China attracted $116 billion while the U.S. attracted $227 billion in FDI. … Continued
Highlights: Recently, the Canadian federal government has been particularly solicitous of foreign investment involving state-owned enterprises (SOEs), so it was a surprise when the governmental rejected, for the first time, a proposal by an SOE in the oil and gas sector. The process for such approval is not transparent, but it would be prudent to … Continued
Highlights: Fed Chairman Bernanke argued that the U.S. Federal Reserve’s accommodative monetary policy not only helps the U.S. economic recovery, but also helps support the global economy, including emerging economies. The speech sought to counter arguments that the Fed’s monetary policy encourages excess capital flows into emerging market economies, which some have argued causes undesirable … Continued
Executive Summary: The Global Capital Confidence Barometer is a regular survey of senior executives from large companies around the world, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) of Ernst & Young. This snapshot of findings gauges corporate confidence in the economic outlook, and identifies boardroom trends and practices in the way companies manage their capital … Continued
Highlights The Australian public M&A market has seen more restrained activity in the 12 months to 30 June 2012, in line with global trends. The energy and resources sectors continue to dominate public M&A in Australia, accounting for about 50% of transactions. Success rates for transactions increased to 81% in FY2012, while the percentage of … Continued
Highlights: Along with the global economic and financial crisis, a string of frauds resulted in the introduction of stricter corporate governance mechanisms in India, with additional requirements, including in the pending Companies Bill, under consideration. While these changes were expected to plug new holes found in the existing regulations, there was also growing realization that … Continued
Executive summary: The attached guide takes a pan-European look at trends and developments through the 2008 financial crisis and in the period since, focusing on: the position of hedge funds: their behaviour, performance and strategies in that period, as well as the changed regulatory landscape they now face, and activist behaviour by both hedge funds … Continued
Five disruptive technology megatrends drove the value of global technology mergers and acquisitions (M&A) up 41% in 2011, while volume increased by 13% — even as the value of global M&A in all industries fell slightly amid economic uncertainty, according to Ernst & Young’s Global technology M&A update, October — December 2011 and year in … Continued
China China’s unprecedented infrastructure building spree is stampeding ahead. The country is able to fund projects totaling trillions of dollars because it was largely unaffected by the recent global economic downturn. Infrastructure growth plans on a large scale Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have some of the most sophisticated and integrated transport systems in the world. … Continued
Highlights: M&A activity in Ireland has been affected by global and national economic difficulties experienced over the past three years, but Ireland’s M&A activity has recovered from the historic lows experienced in 2009. This recovery looks set to gather pace in 2012. Much of Ireland’s M&A activity during 2011 was driven by the restructuring of … Continued
