How have the foreign takeovers fared, the cross-border M&As that followed the crisis? Is the process of corporate and industrial restructuring in the region now complete, or is it still unfolding?

These are the key questions raised in this book, which will be of particular interest to policymakers and international executives, and to scholars and researchers in economics, international business, global finance and political economy.

Business Restructuring in Asia asks whether the post-crisis acquisitions amounted to a fire sale of valuable Asian assets. If so, was there truly no other solution?

Zhan and Ozawa discuss whether the role of M&A vulture funds in crises of this kind is good, bad, or just an inevitable function of free capital markets.

The authors' own conclusion is that cross-border M&As can be highly effective in reforming corporate governance within a stricken economic region, by bringing in new corporate assets and business practices not available domestically. If their costs can be minimized and their benefits to the region maximized, then such M&As may be a necessary evil and are perhaps even a good thing for these crisis-hit Asian economies.

This penetrating study was prepared as background research for UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2000.