Regional conglomerates facing challenging business climateKUALA LUMPUR: Conglomerates in South-East Asia are likely to consolidate further over the long run amid the challenging business climate, says management consulting firm Bain and Co Malaysia Inc. Partner Till Vestring said regional conglomerates had too many businesses which had to be consolidated or potentially divested to become much leaner operations. “We see that mergers and acquisitions (in South-East Asia) has generally picked up and the conglomerates are also rethinking their portfolio,” he told reporters during a roundtable session on “How Conglomerates in South-East Asia Can Live Long and Prosper”. Meanwhile, Bain and Co senior adviser Shahazwan Harris said conglomerates and single-focused businesses in South-East Asia had started to acquire technology companies to support their current operations. “A lot of activities are seen in Malaysia but the size is smaller ... the bigger merger and acquisition deals are still in Singapore and Thailand,” he added.

Source: The Star January 18, 2017 23:21 UTC