India did $32.6 bn M&A deals this year; infra high on the list

The month of August saw overall private equity deal activity worth $1.6 billion, taking the year-to-date value of transactions in the country to $32.6 billion, indicating this year will end with much better number in terms of mergers and acquisitions.

According to assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton, the overall deal sentiment in India has remained consistently high from second quarter of 2014, surpassing the level of value and volume recorded in the past two years.

There were 762 deals including both mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and private equity transactions in the first eight months of this year amounting to $32.6 billion.

In the corresponding period of the last year, there were 614 deals worth $27.7 billion.

"We see the overall trend continuing in terms of quantity of deals. We have seen some very interesting deals in the infrastructure and manufacturing sector among the corporate M&A, and we continue to see an uptick in the private equity and cross-border deals as we go along," Grant Thornton India Partner Harish HV said.

A sector-wise analysis shows that the energy & natural resources sector has been active this year with 25 deals aggregating $4.1 billion so far, while the IT & ITES sector continues to top the charts both in the M&A and PE space.

Overall, the values and number of deals are up this year compared to the previous two years, he said, adding "we expect that this year will end with much better number compared to the previous two on M&A."

With 19 per cent increase in value and 12 per cent increase in volume over 2013, the M&A sphere saw increased activity at $25 billion (by way of 373 deals).

"Clearly, domestic & inbound deal activity has contributed to this increase. Although the deal volume is consistent, outbound deal value is yet to match the levels seen previously," the report added.