Despite a marginal dip in volume, the deal street grossed up a whopping $110.3 billion during the first nine months of 2026, which though is only a 1.7% higher than the year-ago number, is the highest since 2022.
It highlights a market that is increasingly driven by fewer but larger strategic transactions. The biggest deal was led by Vedanta’s five-way demerger, which included the $20.6 billion Vedanta Aluminium spin-off, according to LSEG Deals Intelligence.
The market also benefited from consolidation across infrastructure, financial services and healthcare and strengthening outbound deals, which reached its highest first-nine-month total since 2010, said Elaine Tan, senior manager at LSEG Deals Intelligence.
Outbound deals, led Sun Pharma's proposed $11.4 billion acquisition of Organon and Bharti Airtel's acquisition of Airtel Africa, were the leaders.
Target India M&As totaled $88.4 billion, down 2.8% from the same period last year while domestic M&As grew 2.8% to US$64.9 billion. Inbound M&As reached $23.5 billion, down 15.4% while outbound M&As amounted to $21.0 billion, a 24.1% increase in value, marking the highest since 2010.
Sector-wise, materials led deal activity, totaling $25.4 billion, more than a four-times increase from the first nine months of last year, and accounting for 23% market share. Healthcare followed with $16.7 billion, up 59.1%, capturing 15.2% share and industrials totaled $15.2 billion, down 9.5% from last year, representing 13.7% market share.
The biggest of the $110-billion chunk was the equity capital market that raised $40.3 billion during the reporting period, demonstrating continued depth despite a more selective issuance environment. Equity raising accelerated significantly in the third quarter, driven by a number of landmark transactions, most notably the NSE issue, which helped lift IPO proceeds to one of the strongest year-to-date totals on record.
Follow-on issuance accounted for more than two-thirds of total market proceeds, including the government's stake sale in LIC. Financials, industrials, healthcare and materials led fundraising activity as companies continued to access public markets to support expansion plans, infrastructure investment, and manufacturing growth, Tan said.
Meanwhile, investment banking activities generated an estimated $1.1 billion in fees during the first nine months of 2026, up 1.8% on-year, the highest since records began in 2000.
ECM underwriting fees fell 9% on-year to $415.6 million, while DCM underwriting fees declined 12% to $181.5 million and syndicated lending fees grew 8% on-year, generating $150.6 million and completed M&A advisory fees grew 26% on-year to $347.4 million.
Equity capital markets fundraising fell to a three-year low, raising $40.8 billion in the first nine months of 2026, a 1.7% decline and the number of offerings also fell 13.5%.
Of the total, initial public offerings (IPOs) raised $12.5 billion, an 11.3% increase on-year, the highest first nine-month total since records began in 1980, despite a 17.9% decline in number of IPOs.
Follow-on offerings accounted for 69% of the overall ECM proceeds, reaching $28.3 billion, down 1.8% as the number of follow-on offerings fell 4.4%.
