Singapore remained the most active bidder in merger and acquisition (M&A) among Southeast Asian countries with 90 bids last year totalling 17.4 billion USD, Mergermarket has reported.

In a report released on January 15, Mergermarket, part of Financial Times Group, added that Singapore companies’ bids last year represented a 74 percent increase from 2012's outbound acquisitions.

Mergermarket noted that four in five cross-border bids in 2013 were contributed by Singaporean firms with Temasek Holdings and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) leading the march with 11 outbound deals totalling 3.1 billion USD and four deals worth 337 million USD, respectively.

According to Mergermarket, Singapore-based corporations showed keen interest in the American market, with outbound M&A deals trebling in size over the year to 7.6 billion USD last year.

Japan remained the largest investor in the region. Its corporations made 11.1 billion USD in bids, representing about 48 percent of total inbound M&A value, and got involved in half of all 30 bids in industrials and chemicals sectors in Southeast Asia in 2013.-VNA