New Delhi, March 26:

At a time when the Indian government is closely watching the Jet-Sahara aviation deal for its implications on the proposed Air India-Indian merger, a global human resources company has taken up a study to map out mergers and acquisitions in the Asian region.

The Mergers and Acquisitions Asia Pacific Study-2006, undertaken by Hewitt Associates, one of the leading providers of human resources outsourcing and consulting services, proposes to explore the relationship between human resources issues and the long-term success of mergers and acquisitions. “The results will help companies and th-ose involved, benchmark th-eir experience with respect to the relationship between business synergies, due diligence and integration,” said Debabrat Mishra, Hewitt’s practice leader for India, “The study will also help companies understand the issues of human resources integration better and there will be lessons to learn from merger and acquisition experiences for references.”

“The appetite of local and non-local companies to grow through mergers, acquisitions or joint ventures in Asia Pacific has increased dramatically in recent years, following the general economic recovery here,” said Eric Fiedler, Hewitt’s regional director. While in 1998, the deal volume in Asia Pacific accounted for only eight per cent of the global transactions, it rose to nearly 25 per cent in 2005, said Eric Fiedler, adding the figure is expected to increase with India now emerging as a big player and the market expected to witness a number of mergers and acquisitions.

For Hewitt, which is consulting in more than 2400 firms in 35 countries, mergers and acquisitions deals have also grown in sophistication and complexity over the years.

Fiedler pointed out, “We have launched this study to provide a thorough understanding of the extent.”