Asia-Pacific accounts for up to 25% of FDI

Investments in the ICT (information and communication technologies), energy and healthcare sectors by venture capital, private equity and strategic investors (through mergers and acquisitions) outperformed the others during this period globally. ICT was the leader in terms of deal volumes and value, driven by investments in such areas as social media, big data, mobile applications and cloud computing, among others.

Globally, healthcare emerged as the second-most-important sector (because of the focus on biotechnology and healthcare equipment), while investments in the Asia-Pacific region focused on the materials sector, which included investments in diversified metals and mining. Furthermore, there was significant activity in energy and other manufacturing industries driven by investor interest in metals and minerals.

"With the increasing availability of market capital and investor opportunities across different sectors, it is likely that Asia-Pacific will remain highly relevant for the global investor community," said Sanjay Singh, vice president for business and financial services at Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific.

"Key sectors for growth include the Internet-linked businesses, media, semiconductors, telecom, media and technologies [TMT], healthcare, restaurants, FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods] and real estate, especially in the distressed asset spaces.

"The outlook for Indonesia is especially exciting for us, as a high-growth investment landscape, with of course China being the leader in deal activity for the region." China was the most active region in the world and accounted for 32 per cent of total deals in the Asia-Pacific region. About 95 per cent of these deals were from domestic acquirers, indicating a trend of industry consolidation within China.

Southeast Asia will also remain an area of focus in 2015, with varying degrees of growth in areas such as healthcare services, healthcare IT/e-health and aged care across Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines. Of these, Malaysia and Singapore will remain the most attractive to investors, helped by a conducive business landscape and government support.

"To address the rising demand for healthcare services, as private hospital groups plan to expand through greenfield and brownfield activities, they would be looking to partner with or outsource to agencies various operations such as hospital design, IT/infrastructure, facility management, training, advisory, and lab services," said Dr Milind Sabnis, director for healthcare at Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific.