M&A activities up by 11.4% in H1 of 2015 to $19.2 bn

Outbound M&A rose by 38%, with Indian companies spending $925 mn abroad

During the first half of 2015, M&A activities rose by 11.4% to 178 deals valued at $19.2 billion, as against 56 announcements worth of $17.2 billion in the same period last year.

This is also the highest half-year deal volume on Mergermarket record (since 2001), according to Mergermarket Regional Trend Report.

"Foreign players, further attracted by the newly elected government's tax exemption, continued to increase their presence in India. Inbound activity increased by 39.5% to $9 billion from the prior half-year period," said in the report.

Technology sector was the most targeted sector in H1 2015 by deal count, with 20 announcements amounting to $883 million.

India's e-commerce packaging demand is rising by almost 200% each year, where local companies are excessively seeking investment for such expansion. Therefore, the inflow of foreign investment can be expected to ride on an encouraging growth trajectory.

Outbound M&A rose by 38%, with Indian companies spending $925 million abroad since the beginning of 2015 as compared to $650m in H1 2014. US was ranked first as an investment destination, accounting for 13.4% of all India's overseas expenditure with nine deals out of the total 27 outbound deals announced during this first half-year period.

Consumer firms continue to attract a high level of activity with the 16 deals reaching the highest number of M&A transactions on in the sector on Mergermarket record. The total $4.6 billion worth of Consumer deals was boosted by one of the year's flagship domestic transactions, Pantaloons

Fashion & Retail's takeover of Madura Garments Lifestyle Retail Company for a $1.2bn.

Another landmark deal was the Indian natural resource company Vedanta's acquisition of a 40.1% stake in Cairn India for a $2.2 billion, leading to the Energy, Mining, & Utilities sector to become the second most active sector, where 21 deals were valued at $3.1 billion.

PE buyouts

Private equity buyout activity has posted more than $1 billion worth of deals for the last five quarters, resulting in H1 2015 seeing a 63.4% increase by value to $3.2bn from H1 2014.

Technology continued to be the most targets for buyouts with 16 deals valued at $1.1 billion, followed by Pharma, Medical & and Consumer deals.

The emerging Pharma, Medical & Biotech sector was comprised of several high profile secondary buyouts, including TPG Growth increasing its stake in Sutures India for $50 million, and Capital International buying out ChrysCapital's stake in Mankind Pharma for $200 million in May.

India's exit activity has already seen 26 deals, only one more is needed to make it the highest annual total on record, while the value has also exceeded every other total since 2008 at $2.7 billion.