India accounted for a meagre 5.1 per cent of merger and acquisition (M&A) deals among emerging countries in the first nine months this year, the lowest in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations.
Energy, mining and utilities continued to dominate the M&A deal activity in these markets with 30.9 per cent share, followed by real estate. According to Mergermarket, which offers M&A services, despite currency woes, July-September was the highest quarter in 2013 for emerging markets with deals valued at $127.3 billion, 52.1 per cent higher than the corresponding quarter last year ($83.7 billion) and up 9.7 per cent from the June quarter of 2013 ($116.1 billion).
The report noted that China led the emerging market activity with $107.1 billion (32 per cent market share), followed by Russia ($52.1 billion or 15.7 per cent), Brazil ($35.3 billion or 10.7 per cent) and India ($17 billion or 5.1 per cent).
In India, according to the report, the top financial advisor to M&As by value continued to be Citi with four deals, valuing $8.6 billion.
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, which used to be in the fifth position, climbed up in the ladder to become No. 2 in terms of value, with four deals amounting to $6.8 billion.
Morgan Stanley dropped to third from No. 2 (eight deals, $6.4 billion). Interestingly, UBS Investment Bank, which was in 19th position a year ago, jumped to the fourth slot this year with two deals worth $6 billion).
As far as volumes go, EY (formerly Ernst & Young) continues to be the No. 1 with 18 deals amounting to $512 million, followed by Morgan Stanley, which was number four last year (eight deals, $6.46 billion).
Axis Capital climbed from the seventh position to third (eight deals, $3.5 billion), Kotak Investment Bank from number five to four (eight deals, $1 billion), while PwC jumped from number 22 to five (eight deals, $746 million).
While Indian companies were not part of the top 10 M&A deals in Europe, the US and even in emerging markets, they managed to grab the fourth and fifth positions in Africa and West Asia.
