Merger and acquisition activity where the target firm was based offshore rose by a quarter in the first three months of 2012 to reach $30.9 billion, comprising a total of 412 individual transactions, according to Appleby, the provider of legal, fiduciary and administration services.

While deal volumes were lower than the same period a year ago (-24 per cent), there is still a reasonable amount of activity going on across the offshore world, Appleby said in its inaugural edition of Offshore-I, a report on M&A trends in offshore centres.

Among all the deals, there were a total of 339 where the acquirer was based in an offshore location. The single biggest domicile for acquirers was the British Virgin Islands, followed by Hong Kong; the Cayman Islands; Guernsey; the Isle of Man; Jersey; Multi-Crown Dependency; Bermuda, Mauritius and Seychelles.

The banking, insurance and financial sector continues to dominate offshore activity, well ahead of its nearest comparator, wholesaling, it said.

Meanwhile, Mauritius emerged as the offshore economy experiencing the greatest growth in activity, with the number of deals involving targets there jumping from six to twelve between Q1 2011 and Q1 2012.

Most of the deals in the quarter were minority stake transactions rather than full takeovers, it said.

“It will be interesting to see if this positive increase in value continues into the rest of 2012,” said Peter Bubenzer, Appleby’s Bermuda-based group chairman. “The challenges ahead are manifold, but there are ongoing signs of real buoyancy in Asian and other emerging markets.”