India Inc's M&A tally touches $11 bn in first half of 2013

Merger and acquisition activity in India witnessed a significant surge in the April-June period of the year taking the year-to-date tally to $10.9 billion through 130 transactions, says global deal tracking firm mergermarket.

Deal activity in the second quarter of this year more than doubled to $7.7 billion over the first quarter of 2013 (January-March) when deals worth $3.2 billion were announced.

Moreover there was an uptick in both inbound and outbound deal activity with inbound M&A value jumped 190.4% from Q1 and outbound deals surged 732.6% above the Q1 2013 tally.

"Inbound M&A value jumped 190.4% from Q1 2013 ($2.3 billion) to $6.8 billion in Q2 2013," the mergermarket said adding that outbound transactions surged 732.6% above the Q1 2013 tally.

Outbound deals were the flavour of the April-June quarter as Indian firms snapped up $5.2 billion-worth of assets overseas.

Some of the key outbound deals os the quarter include ONGC and Oil India's acquisition of a a 10% stake in the giant Rovuma gas field in Mozambique for $2.5 billion -- the country's largest outbound foray so far this year.

The April-June period also featured Apollo Tyres' bid for Cooper Tire & Rubber, the largest acquisition of a US target ever attempted by an Indian bidder.

However, despite the strong recovery this quarter, H1 2013 M&A totalled $10.9 billion (130 deals) - the lowest opening half year since H1 2009 ($7.8 billion, 98 deals), mergermarket said.

The Netherlands-based Unilever's acquisition of 22.5% stake in its Indian subsidiary for $5.4 billion accounted for 52.1% of aggregate inbound H1 2013 value and consequently, the consumer sector had the highest total deal value, the report added.