India Inc’s M&As at $26.76 bn in June-November: Grant Thornton
11 Dec 2013
November saw India Inc announce mergers and acquisitions deals worth $1.31 billion, taking the 11-month tally this year to $26.76 billion, PTI reported.
According to assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton, a total of 458 deals were announced by companies in the country, in the January-November period amounting to $ 26.76 billion, which came as a 21 per cent decline over the year ago period in value terms.
The report quoted Raja Lahiri, Grant Thornton India's partner (transaction advisory services) the deal activity currently remained moderate, which matched the overall economic sentiment.
He added, while certain regulatory steps being taken by the government to attract more FDI in sectors such as retail, aviation, broadcasting and telecom were positive signals, investors, however, continued to adopt a cautious approach.
He added, deal-making was therefore taking longer with more intensive due diligence and evaluation of regulatory risks.
November M&A activity saw PE deal activity worth $2 billion, which was similar to the levels seen in September and October 2013.
- Real estate attracted deals worth $513.23 million -- the largest percentage of the total deal tally in November (39 per cent)
- IT &ITes followed with ($225.18 million, 17 per cent)
- Pharma ($193.14 million, 15 per cent)
- Banking and financial ($175.16 million, 13 per cent) and
- Telecom ($80 million, 6 per cent).
The top five M&A deals represented around 63 per cent of the total value of the deals.
The deal of the month was Lodha Group's acquisition of McDonald House for $503 million.
The second-largest deal was IntercontinentalExchange Group Inc's 100-per cent stake acquisition in Singapore Mercantile Exchange for $150 million while the Sanofi Aventis-Shantha Biotechnics deal ($122 million) took the third spot in the pecking order.
In the other major transaction for the month of November, SQS Software Quality Systems AG acquired 100 per cent stake in Thinksoft Global Services for $ 24 billion.