Indian companies reported 86 M&A deals worth Rs9,672.6 crore in August: Grant Thornton

Indian companies announced 86 mergers and acquisitions (M&A), worth Rs9,672.6 crore ($2.1 billion), last month, taking the total value of M&As in the country in 2011 till date to over Rs140,483 crore ($30.5 billion), according to data released by accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton India.

There were 49 M&A deals worth $2,181 million last month compared to 42 deals worth $401 million in the same month last year, according to Grant Thornton's latest Dealtracker report

Of all outbound deals, wherein Indian companies made overseas acquisitions, 11 M&A deals, worth $0.89 billion, were made in August, as against 29 deals worth $ 0.29 billion the same month last year.

One of the largest outbound deals was Vedanta Group firm Sesa Goa's acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in Western Cluster Ltd, a Liberian iron ore mining company, for $90 million (Rs400 crore) in cash. Inbound deals in August, wherein foreign companies merged with or acquired Indian companies, accounted, for $ 0.47 billion by way of 11 deals, as compared to seven deals worth $ 0.02 billion in 2010.

The biggest inbound deal was Zürich, Switzerland-based power and automation technology group ABB's acquisition of Pune-based Baldor Electric India for about Rs35.7 crore.

There were 27 domestic deals in August, worth $ 0.82 billion, compared to 19 deals worth $ 0.09 billion in the corresponding month of 2010.