Freehills released the first of its annual Public Mergers & Acquisitions Reports, on Friday in a bid examine the deal technology involved in M&A transactions, and to determine some of the fundamental details behind the success of a large deal.

It found that of the 72 takeovers and schemes of arrangements that involved ASX listed companies last financial year, there were trends to emerge that included the fact that almost half of the offers were still for cash, even despite the economic crisis, and also that while bidders were notably more cautious last financial year, Australian market participants in general are getting more comfortable with schemes as a deal structure.

Freehills M&A partner, Simon Reed, noted in a statement that with so many large deals driven by foreign bidders that Australian bidders may now come to the fore in the current financial year, "now that they have secured their balance sheets and equity markets confidence returns", he said.

He added that Australian M&A continues to be driven by the resources sector. "The unprecedented turmoil in financial and capital markets certainly hasn't killed off M&A activity, but it has had an impact on the way these deeds are done," he said.