Across the world, companies in emerging markets are acquiring assets in the U.S., Western Europe, and other developed markets. What does it all mean?
Just three years ago, IBM was known for making some of the most coveted laptops in the world. The sleek, black ThinkPad, with its fold-out keyboard, was a status symbol in corporate conference rooms and on the business class section of airplanes.
That’s why it was so surprising to some in 2005 when the U.S. tech giant sold its PC business for $1.75 billion to a relatively obscure Chinese computer maker called Lenovo. Big Western corporations had come to view China and other parts of the developing world as low-cost sources of manufacturing and labor. But suddenly a young company from an emerging market was looking to play a vastly different role, using strategic M&A to carve out a position of global leadership. Lenovo even promised to open a self-styled Innovation Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C., a sign that the company intended to lead on a global scale.
Such deals, where a multinational corporation or investment fund in an emerging market acquires assets in the U.S., Western Europe, and other developed markets, have accelerated sharply during the last year, and are becoming larger than ever.
