Winning at M&A in Emerging Markets

Despite the current worldwide lull in mergers and acquisitions, there’s not much argument that emerging markets will remain a hotbed of M&A activity for some time to come. In the forefront of emerging-market M&A are the BRICs—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—which collectively account for 60 percent of total deal value in emerging-market M&A activity.

Within the BRICs, markets are growing, consumers are gaining purchasing power, and formerly protectionist economies are opening up to foreign investment. At the same time, newly confident and ambitious BRIC-based companies are racing to acquire assets in developed economies to achieve growth and advance their global aspirations. The sheer scale of economic activity ensures that the BRICs will continue to be a nexus for M&A.

This year’s M&A report—the ninth from BCG highlighting surprising aspects of global M&A activity—turns the spotlight on the factors that make the difference between success and failure in deal making in emerging markets.