The Weekly News Update is a weekly roundup of business news from around the Asia-Pacific region, covering Fusion Consulting's core industry practices: chemicals, consumer & retail, financial services, industrial & logistics, information & communication technology, life science and media & leisure. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.       Merging with the Mainland: China's M&A opportunities   M&A activity in China continues to surge, thanks to strong economic growth and  private equity activity. With regulatory changes in 2006, several sectors should see  further M&A action in 2007 and beyond. Find out where the opportunities lie.

Financial services

Asia - Takaful movement advances in Asia Source: Channel NewsAsia, 11 March 2008 Investments in Islamic insurance globally are expected to triple in value to almost US$10 billion in the next three to five years, and the industry could grow as much as 20% a year in the next decade. The biggest players are likely to be investors from Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia. In Asia, Malaysia represents the biggest market - worth at least US$570 million. The next big market to watch is Indonesia, because of its massive population base of 220 million. The country has seen the number of Takaful operators selling Islamic insurance products grow from eight to 38 over three years. All this is good news for Singapore because of its status as a financial hub. Many major banks are already gearing up to get a slice of the market. Indonesia - Single-presence policy to drive consolidation Source: Business Times Singapore, 11 March 2008 Malaysia's Malayan Banking (Maybank) and Korea's Kookmin are bidding for an indirect stake in Bank Internasional Indonesia Tbk (BII), Indonesia's sixth-biggest lender. Singapore investment company Temasek is looking to sell its 75% stake in BII's controlling shareholder, Sorak Financial, which owns 55.78% of the Indonesian lender. Temasek also has a controlling stake in Indonesia's fifth-largest lender PT Bank Danamon. Temasek is looking to sell its BII interest because of a new central bank rule preventing institutions from owning more than one bank in Indonesia. The single-presence policy aims to drive consolidation of the financial sector. Currently, there are 130 banks in Indonesia. Taiwan - Credit card transaction amount up 2.4% in 2007 Source: Asia Pulse, 11 March 2008 Taiwan-issued credit card transactions amounted to NT$1.41 trillion (US$46 billion) in 2007, up 2.4% over 2006. According to the Executive Yuan's Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, a total of NT$1.33 trillion (US$43.4 billion) of that amount was accounted for by credit card transactions within Taiwan, which also marked an increase of 2.4% over the 2006 level. There were a total of 36.4 million Taiwan-issued credit cards in circulation in 2007, with a total of 19.8 million being used within the last six months. The latter figure marked a drop of 3.6% over the previous year's level.     View an example of our experience in this industry. Back to list of articles.  Visit our website to sign up for free intelligence on Asian markets.

This Weekly News Update is a free newsletter, providing a round-up of the week's Asia-Pacific news from our core industry practices. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.

Fusion Consulting is a business intelligence consultancy providing clear strategic advice on Asia-Pacific markets. With offices in Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong and 400 industry consultants in 16 countries, we conduct custom research and consulting to help companies understand their markets, compete more effectively and grow into new areas of opportunity. Email more@fusionc.com or visit www.fusionc.com for more information.