Australia has fared well in a global report which measured heavy trading and information leakage ahead of mergers and acquisitions, as Hong Kong, India and the United Kingdom topped the table. 
The report commissioned by information and data room company Intralinks assessed significant pre-announcement trading or "abnormal movements" in stocks that were subject to deal activity. Australia posted the lowest score among countries that were deemed active for M&A, with a six year average of just 3.5 per cent of deals leaking to the market. Japan also posted a low score of 4.4 per cent.
The report drew on a sample of 4475 deals over the six years ended   December 31, 2014. The analysis was conducted by the M&A research centre at City University London's Cass Business School.
It found Hong Kong led the pack with deal leakage averaging 18.6 per cent over the period, India was next at 15.2 per cent and the UK was third at 14.1 per cent.

Tougher enforcement
Globally, however, deal leakage prompting heavy trading activity tumbled to a six-year low of 6 per cent in 2014, down from the most recent peak of 8.8 per cent a year earlier, according to the report.
To account for the decline, it cited a rise in enforcement actions and fines by regulators, a greater reliance on regulatory technology to uncover unscrupulous or insider trading, and more scrutiny on internal governance procedures at companies.
"Irregular share price activity is now easier to detect and investigate," said Phillip Whitchelo, Intralinks' vice-president of strategy.
The report also found that targets in leaked deals achieved "significantly higher" takeover premiums, the median coming in at a staggering 51.2 per cent. That compared to a median takeover premium of 29.2 per cent for deals that were not subject to information leakage. The analysis noted this may be linked to the fact that a greater proportion of leaked deals attracted multiple bidders.
The findings relating to Australia run counter to several local investment bankers and lawyers labelling this market a leaky one for deals. Michael Parshall, a partner at Allen & Overy, told a conference last year: "ASIC [the Australian Securities and Investments Commission] is far more diligent in this area because they are concerned about Australia's reputation of being a leaky market."
Announced Australian M&A amounts to $US121.9 billion ($171.8 billion) in 2015, markedly up on the $US65.5 billion in transactions made public at the same time last year. Still, as 2015 draws to a close, a number of large local deals are hanging in the balance and may not get across the line. A bidding war for ports and rail company Asciano by two groups of suitors, led by Brookfield Infrastructure and Qube, has captured investor attention.
Internationally, M&A has returned to pre-global financial crisis levels in 2015, buoyed by mega-deals in sectors including pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, and consumer products.