Covid-19 loomed over the global economy for a second year running, but Asia-Pacific private equity investors hardly noticed. The region’s economies grew at a healthy clip, especially in the first half  of the year. That set the stage for robust dealmaking and spurred Asia-Pacific investment value to  a record $296 billion (see Figure 1). The quick rebound resulted partly from rapid vaccination rollouts that helped Asia-Pacific economies recover during the first half of the year, before the Omicron variant prompted renewed lockdowns and other precautions.

Each country in the region set new investment highs, and deal value in Japan, Southeast Asia, and South Korea more than doubled. Investments in Greater China and India represented 43% and 20% of total deal value, respectively, but breaking with the pattern in previous years, India grew faster than China in 2021, increasing its share of the overall market.