HYDERABAD:India Inc saw 40 mergers and acquisitions (M&A) aggregating to $2.7 billion in February 2015 as against 50 transactions worth $1.73 billion, said Grant Thornton. With this, the cumulative M&A activity touched $5 billion in the first two months of 2015.
“The two months in 2015 have already witnessed a deal value of almost $5 billion across around 90 deals, which is 85 per cent higher in value from the same period in 2014 and 26 per cent higher in 2013,” said Prashant Mehra, Partner, Grant Thornton India LLP.
There were 48 deals totalling $2.22 billion in January with e-commerce and pharma segment topping list in volume and value terms respectively.
Pharma deals continued to peak in February, with transactions worth $772 million led by the acquisition of Mylan-Famy Care deal. Other key transactions include Infosys’s acquisition of the US-based automation technology provider Panaya for $200 million followed by Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries’ acquisition of a 60 per cent stake in renewable energy firm Green Infra.
February also saw 125 per cent increase in domestic deal value. Even though the volume of cross border transaction decreased by 65 per cent, the value of these transactions increased by 36 per cent.
“On the cross-border front, though volumes decreased by 65 per cent in February, values rose by 36 per cent as compared to February 2014, which is perhaps a sign of maturing of the market as average deal value is increasing,” he said.
Inbound deals continue to witness upward trend, and the flavour of the month in February was the Mylan Inc-Famy care deal worth $750 million.
There were three other deals of over $100 million each.
Sector-wise, the IT & ITeS drove M&A deal activity in terms of volumes with e-commerce continuing to play a key role within the sector. The e-commerce sector attracted 10 transactions worth $240 million.
Receives 21 FDI proposals
New Delhi: India received 21 Foreign Direct Investment proposals during the first two months of 2015. Of this, 11 proposals have been approved and 9 have been rejected, as per the latest data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. FDI proposals fell sharply to 153 in 2014 as against 218 and 219 proposals in 2012 and 2013 respectively.