2013 was the year of herky jerky motion for Asian M&A. This was because of the economic slowdown in China as well as the cyclical contraction of the mining industrial markets. These were the two main areas historically where large volume deals are forged but were nascently absent in the year.

In research conducted by Dealogic, the total value of deals completed in Asia excluding Japan was at USD284 billion, nearly 16% lower than the total volume recorded for 2012. 

According to Deutsche Bank M&A head Mayooran Elalingam, "M&A volumes are down this year. One of the primary reasons has been elections in a number of countries and the leadership change in China, which impacts state-owned enterprise outbound activity. The slowdown in the global resources sector has not helped as that is where many of the big deals com from."

Only CNOOC had made a splash for 2013, through the completion of a USD15.1 billion purchase of Nexxen. Other Chinese state owned companies have been relatively reserved this year. The regional activity was spurred by Japanese acquisitions in Southeast Asia, Thai tycoons Dhanin Chearavanont and Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, who had made large acquisitions in foreign markets.