Dealflow and value in Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan, last year soared to record levels, according to new data from Mergermarket.

The region saw 2,577 deals announced in 2013 compared with 2,297 in 2012, marking a year-on-year rise of 12.2%.

The number of deals broke the previous record of 2,353 set before the global financial crisis in 2007.

The value of deals rose $403.4bn (£245.5bn) over the year, up 15% from 2012 when deals totalled $350.9bn (£213.6bn).

The market bucked the global trend in Q4 by being the only region to see increased deal value, registering a 41.8% uptick compared with the same period in 2012. The region also saw the highest increase in deal value from Q3, up 12.2%.

"General economic trends have been picking up, particularly in the second half of last year," said Linklaters Singapore-based M&A partner Will Kirschner. "Financing remains relatively cheap and many Asian companies have quite strong balance sheets. We have seen a lot of outbound interest, particularly from North Asia looking for opportunities in Southeast Asia across a variety of sectors."

The adviser rankings were topped by Herbert Smith Freehills by value and by King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) by volume, with the firm acting on 102 deals. KWM was also second in terms of value.

When looking at sectors, energy, mining and utilities M&A remained the most active during the year, with deals worth $93.9bn (£57.1bn), up 43.4% from a 2012 figure of $65.5bn (£39.7bn).

Real estate saw the biggest percentage increase in value and deal count, topping $36.7bn (£22.3bn) compared with $11.5bn (£7bn) in 2012 – a rise of 219.1% – alongside a 49.4% surge in volume from 81 deals in 2012 to 121 last year.

Looking at cross-border deals, Africa and the Middle East saw a significant amount of investment from Asia last year, with transactions into these markets worth $18.8bn (£11.4bn) against $7.1bn (£4.3bn) in 2012 – a 164.7% jump. The region therefore accounted for 23.4% of total outbound investment from Asia, up from 8.7% in 2012.

"Africa is increasingly becoming part of [the outbound M&A] story," added Kirschner. "The value of investment in Africa has obviously trailed investment into Asia and certain other parts of the world, so a few large deals can really move the needle there."

But despite an uptick in dealflow into the Middle East and Africa, overall outbound Asian investments saw a slight dip during the 12-month period. The total value was $80.2bn (£48.7bn), down 2.4% from 2012 when it was $82.2bn (£49.9bn). Inbound M&A meanwhile was up 3%, from $67.4bn (£40.9bn) to $69.4bn (£42.1bn).

"China deals in the last year have been a bit flat or have even dropped a little compared with the year before," said Alan Wang, a Beijing-based corporate partner from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. "But it hasn't been as dramatic as people had thought. There were several reasons – one was the change of Government. Chinese SOEs took a wait-and-see approach to find out what the new policies would be before plunging into major deals. There was also some tightening on bank lending in China, which would have contributed to the drop in outbound M&A."

But Wang remains positive about the year ahead in view of the Chinese Government's commitment to outbound investment.

He also said that transactions in the consumer sector – which more than doubled in value in 2013 to reach $12.3bn (£7.5bn) – would lead to a substantial upturn in the next 12 months.

"I'm not sure the overall value will increase significantly but in terms of volume I think they will.

"Chinese consumer companies are trying to globalise. The Chinese consumer market, while expanding, is very competitive and the profit margins are low. So companies are being pressured to look abroad for additional markets and sources of revenue."