Due to Excessive Government Regulations
The Federation of Korean Industries recently analyzed the top 10 sales companies in the United States, South Korea and Japan and announced on March 17 that the 10 South Korean companies signed 260 M&A deals for the past 10 years while the 10 Japanese and 10 U.S. companies signed 787 and 751 deals, respectively. “In that period, the M&A investments of the South Korean, U.S. and Japanese companies were US$101.2 billion, US$280.8 billion and US$185.6 billion, respectively,” it said.
According to the federation, CVS Health, one of the largest healthcare companies in the United States, signed M&A deals adding up to US$92.7 billion for the past 10 years. “When it comes to the number of contracts with a size of at least one trillion won each, South Korea stood at 63 whereas the United States and Japan recorded 2,120 and 203, respectively,” it explained.
As for the biggest deal, Samsung Electronics acquired Harman for US$9.4 billion in 2016, Verizon Communications acquired Cellco Partnership for US$130.3 billion in 2013, and Takeda Pharmaceutical acquired Shire for US$80.9 billion in 2018.
“South Korean enterprises’ M&A activities are showing little progress these days and this has to do with excessive government regulations,” the federation pointed out, adding, “The current Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act needs to be improved so that M&As can be facilitated.”