South Korean firms engage in a far smaller number of mergers and acquisitions(M&As) of foreign companies compared to Chinese and Japanese corporations.
 
According to Bloomberg, South Korean firms were involved in 38-point-94 billion dollars' worth of M&As between 2011 and 2015.
 
During the same period, Japan inked 302 billion dollars' worth of M&As, which is eight times more than South Korea, while China engaged in 275-point-nine billion dollars.
 
South Korean corporations engaged in the largest number of M&As in 2010 at 74. By value, the firms spent the most on consolidations in 2012 at ten-point-95 billion dollars.
 
Since 2012, South Korean firms have been engaging in around 60 M&As of foreign companies a year. In 2013 and 2014, the annual value of consolidations fell to around five billion dollars before recovering to the ten-billion-dollar range last year.
 
In 2015, local private equity fund MBK Partners acquired Homeplus from the U.K.'s Tesco for six-point-one billion dollars, raising the total value of M&As to surpass the previous year's.