Singapore: Middle East investments in Asia are starting to pick up again this year, following a sharp drop in 2009 due to the global financial crisis, with firms seeking to benefit from the region's rebounding economies.
Cross-border flows into Asia from the Mideast have already reached 16 deals worth $4.375 billion in 2010 so far, compared with 22 deals worth $4.431 billion for all of last year, according to Dealogic data.
These figures only included publicly announced mergers and acquisitions.
"It is logical and this investment trend is likely to continue in the foreseeable future," said Middle East research at UBS AG Saud Masud in Dubai.
"Asia is standing out as a relatively stronger econ-omic region when one compares it to European and other developed markets. Also over the last year or so oil has found a favourable trading range which supports liquidity for many of the gulf-based players," Masud said.
The cash-rich Mideast's interest in Asia is not difficult to understand.
The International Monetary Fund has said it believed the region's economies would expand faster than expected this year with growth forecast penned at 7.5 per cent, and "a more moderate but also more sustainable" 6.8 per cent in 2011.
Global growth
This compared with its global growth forecast of 4.6 per cent for 2010, and 4.3 per cent for 2011.
Qatar's $2.8 billion cornerstone investment, through its wealth fund, in the Hong Kong portion of Agricultural Bank of China's multi-billion-dollar initial public offering sits on top of the 2010 table, followed by Kuwait Investment Authority's $800 million investment in the AgBank IPO.
