India Inc's M&A deal value jumps in June: Grant Thornton

Corporate India announced merger and acquisition deals worth $5.26 billion through 38 transactions in June, registering a three-fold increase in value terms, says a report.

In June 2014, there were 43 transactions worth $ 1.45 billion, said the report by Grant Thornton.

According to the assurance, tax and advisory firm, the first six months of this year India recorded around 740 deals valued at $ 23 billion compared to over 550 deals at around $22 billion during the same period last year.

"Government's actions on key policy issues and reforms such as GST, the new Companies Act, ITP for Tech start-ups, land acquisition, unblocking stalled projects, etc. should improve the 'ease of doing business' in India and therefore may further accelerate the transaction activity in India," Prashant Mehra, Partner at Grant Thornton India LLP said.

Domestic deals were the flavour of the month as there were 20 such transactions worth $2.77 billion in June 2015.

Meanwhile, there were 18 cross border deals worth $ 2.49 billion in the period under consideration.

A sector-wise analysis shows that energy and natural resources contributed 76 per cent of the total deal value as this sector witnessed 4 transactions worth $ 3.99 billion, followed by real estate 3 transactions worth $ 402 million and manufacturing 4 deals worth $ 327 million.

Top M&A deals of June include the $ 2.3 billion Vedanta-Cairn India merger, followed by New York-listed Enterprise Products Partners' 49.9 per cent stake acquisition in Eagle Ford Shale for $ 1.073 billion.

"In terms of sector spread, M&A activity was driven by the Energy and Natural Resources sector contributing to 27 per cent of the total deal value on the back of a few large deals like Vedanta-Cairn merger and Reliance's stake sale in Eagle Ford Shale," Mehra added.