India Inc M&A deals up 12 per cent from 1H '16

Corporate India's merger and acquisition deal activity increased by 12 per cent to $15.7 billion in the first half of the year driven mostly by domestic investor interest.

According to assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton, India Inc's M&A deals saw a 12 per cent increase in deal value to $15.7 billion in the first half of this year, despite a 5 per cent fall in number of deals compared with January-June period last year.

"This growth was primarily driven by domestic and outbound transactions, which together increased by over 1.6 times as compared to first half of 2015; contributing over 50 per cent of the total deal values and over 70 per cent of the total M&A deal values," Prashant Mehra, Partner at Grant Thornton India LLP said.

Crossborder transactions saw $3.9 billion in inbound deals and $3.1 billion by way of outbound deals.

"Inbound transactions declined for the first time in six years with global investors being cautious on the outcome of the Brexit referendum and the evolving global implications," Mehra said.

On the rise of outbound deal values, the report said that increase indicated strong domestic investor optimism in the global market.

Combined deal value of private equity and M&A transactions was marginally up at $21.8 billion from $21.1 billion in the first six months of 2016 as against the same period last year.

According to data compiled by Grant Thornton the total number of transactions during this period had increased to 750 deals from 738 deals driven by both domestic and outbound transactions.

While M&A transactions saw an increase of 12 per cent in the deal values amounting to $15.7 billion despite a 5-per cent drop in deal volumes, the number of private equity deals (PE) deals had seen consistent growth in volumes.