Citi tops M&A league this year

Citibank has regained its pole position in the Indian merger & acquisition (M&A) league table for this calendar year (till date), with 16.5 per cent of market share. Pipping ICICI Securities, first in calendar 2014, show data from Dealogic, the global financial software company.

ICICI Securities, in fact, is not even in the top-10 list this year. A large number of transactions have been for acquisition of spectrum by telecom companies. ICICI Securities was number one last year as it advised Sun Pharmaceutical on the Ranbaxy transaction and Jaypee on sale of its cement units.

An ICICI Securities' official says it is advising on two large deals, including sale of the rest of Jaypee's cement business and sale of stake in Essar Steel. Both are high-value transactions and will be concluded this financial year, bringing ICICI Securities back in the game, he said.

Two big transactions this year were for acquisition of spectrum for $4.6 billion by Bharti Airtel in March and a $4.1-bn deal by Vodafone. Rothschild, which advised Vodafone on spectrum acquisition from the Government of India, was number three this; JM Financial was number two.

In calendar 2014, M&A deals were $56.5 bn, as compared to deals worth $44.7 bn signed till now this year. Bankers said most transactions this year were by debt-heavy companies, forced to sell assets to reduce the load. Last week, Videocon sold its spectrum in the UP West and Gujarat circles to Idea Cellular for Rs 3,300 crore to reduce its debt.

"The fire-sale of assets will continue in 2016, as banks are pressurising debt-heavy companies to either pay up loans in time or get taken over under the strategic debt recast scheme," said the report.

A $2.27-bn acquisition of Cairn India shares by Vedanta and acquisition of the ports business from Adani Enterprises by Adani Ports for $2.14 bn were other top deals. Acquisition of stake worth $702 million in Flipkart by Tiger Global, Accel Partners, Qatar Investment Authority, Naspers, Steadview Capital, Digitial Sky and GIC Pte also made it to the top 10 transactions.

Among the big ones still in the works is an acquisition of 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil in an all-cash deal worth $2.8 bn by Rosneft of Russia. This transaction will be announced by the end of this financial year. Videocon's sale of spectrum in four circles is also expected in the next few weeks. The company plans to raise close to $14,000 crore by sale of its telecom assets, to reduce debt.