"For much of the past decade, Asia has been the go-to continent for companies interested in tapping into fast-growing economies." from Bloomberg Businessweek

"Now, Wal-Mart Stores' agreement on Sept. 27 to buy South African retailer Massmart Holdings for $4.6 billion may signal a shift toward Africa as another deal-making destination for multinationals. Besides the Wal-Mart acquisition (the U.S. retailer's largest in more than a decade), HSBC Holdings is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Nedbank Group, South Africa's fourth-largest bank, and Japan's Nippon Telegraph & Telephone is buying Africa's biggest technology company, Dimension Data. In all, more than $15 billion in deals have been announced across Africa since July."