M&A activity in India up 47% to US$ 17.1 billion in 2014

New Delhi: India targeted mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity registered a growth of 47.4 per cent in H1 2014 to touch US$ 17.1 billion, as compared to US$ 11.6 billion in H1 2013, according to a report by Mergermarket.

In the first quarter from January-March 2014, there were M&A transactions worth US$ 3.7 billion only while the next quarter from April-June 2014 saw deals worth US$ 13.4 billion, which accounted for 78 per cent of the total first-half deal value.

The second quarter this year was the most active quarter since the second quarter of 2012. Moreover, there was also an influx of large cap deals compared to the first quarter of this year. Diageo and Vodafone Group provided the largest deals, which resulted in impressive second quarter for inbound activities valued at around US$ 6.3 billion.

The most active sectors in the first two quarters of 2014 were the pharma, medical and biotech sectors, as they accounted for 27 per cent of market share from deals worth US$ 4.6 billion.

In spite of the fact that the industrials and chemicals sector led the industry chart in terms of number of deals, 27 in number, the deal value summed up to just around US$ 0.6 billion, which was down by 61.4 per cent over the corresponding period in the previous year.

The highlight of the first half of this year’s deals was the US$ 3.97-billion Sun Pharma-Ranbaxy deal followed by the Diageo deal where it acquired 26 per cent stake in United Spirits for US$ 3.14 billion and the Vodafone Group’s deal where it acquired 10.97 per cent stake in Vodafone India from Piramal Enterprises for a sum of US$ 1.47 billion.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) acquiring Dhamra Port in Odisha from Tata Steel and L&T Infrastructure Development Projects (L&T IDPL) and Reliance Industries-Network 18 Media deals were some other major deals as mentioned in the report.

The report also mentioned that Citi topped the financial advisor league table by advising on five deals worth around US$ 8.2 billion, while the top position for the number of deals was clinched by EY which was a part of 13 transactions totaling around US$ 5.2 billion.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.