The mergers and acquisitions market in Asia is rapidly approaching Europe’s and North America’s in terms of maturity and sophistication, according to a new report. The Cass Business School’s M&A Research Centre finds that only regulatory and political factors are holding Asia back (see table).

The school published its findings in its M&A maturity index this morning, which marks a country's ability to attract and sustain M&A activity after taking: regulatory, economic, financial, political, technological and socio-cultural factors into account.