LEADING Scottish firms are preparing to turn the tables on foreign rivals by hitting the acquisition trail overseas in the new year.

Experts say a posse of successful Scottish companies are scouring the market for targets that could help them capitalise on the opportunities that are opening up in fast-growing markets such as Asia.

David Leslie, head of corporate finance in Scotland at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the accountancy giant has recorded a surge of interest from Scottish firms who want it to find suitable businesses to buy.

"In the last quarter we have seen more requests from Scottish companies to find businesses in Asia Pacific, Brazil, some parts of Africa and the Middle East," Mr Leslie told The Herald.

The requests have come from companies that have the fire-power to make things happen. "They are well capitalised, well financed, they are going to go out and do things," added Mr Leslie.

The prediction follows a year in which a number of Scottish firms have made big acquisitions overseas.

This reflects the importance they attach to growing their overseas presence and the confidence that they feel in their ability to operate on the global stage.

The engineering heavyweights Weir Group and Clyde Blowers have used big acquisitions to expand this year.

Such deals reflect the buyers' determination to add bulk in overseas growth markets during a period when the economies of the UK and the Eurozone countries are treading water.

"Many of the companies that are successful in Scotland are the companies that are investing in overseas access," said Ian Steele, the corporate financier who heads Deloitte's Scottish operations. "They are either taking their products or their expertise to growth areas. They are spending there and they are doing well, doing fantastically. That will not stop."

The sight of Scottish firms buying overseas will please people who are more used to seeing local firms swallowed up by outsiders.

However, experts predict that the ranks of Scottish companies are likely to be thinned further in 2012 as more raiders from overseas go shopping north of the Border.

Firms in oil and gas, financial services and niche technology development will come in for close attention.

Earlier this month the US credit ratings agency Moody's paid £50 million for Barrie & Hibbert, the Edinburgh-based risk management software specialist.

Outside the ranks of the premier league, financiers believe the mergers and acquisitions market will be muted in Scotland in 2012, partly because of the shortage of credit that has dampened activity since the financial crisis that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Bruce Walker, head of debt advisory at KPMG, warns that credit markets are unlikely to get easier next year when many firms will look to refinance their borrowings.

"Before Lehman, banks were putting in five to seven-year money. A lot of that is maturing. Since then they have only been giving around three-year money so now there is post-Lehman and pre-Lehman money maturing at the same time," he said. Neil Patey at Ernst & Young and David Cockburn at Grant Thornton both predicted that concerns that the Eurozone might fall apart with disastrous consequences will make many firms reluctant to buy until the picture clears.

Corporates who have cash in the bank could be well placed to take advantage of the wave of distressed sales that some people think are inevitable next year.

However, Scottish private equity investors believe they will find lots to do with the money they have raised.

Torquil Macnaughton, a director of Penta Capital, said the firm is keen on themes like austerity and the ageing UK population.

Penta is delighted by progress at Esure since it backed Peter Wood's £185m buyout of of the insurance business from Lloyds Banking Group in February.

Brian Aitken at the Pirrie brothers' Nevis Capital investment business said: "Yes there will be uncertainty and a difficult market, but there is still plenty to go for.

"Good management teams will gain market share."