M&A deal activity in 2020 jumps 33% to $36.9 billion, says report

Deals cut by Reliance Indus­tries helped overall mergers and acquisitions (M&As) activity grow 33 per cent in 2020 to $36.9 billion, a report has said. The number of deals came down to 357 from the 443 in 2019, indicating a surge in ave­rage ticket sizes, the report by advisory firm Grant Thornton said. It pointed to the combined $10.1-billion stakebuy in Reliance Jio by Facebook and Google as an illustrative case.
 
The year also saw nine oth­er deals value over $1 billion ea­ch, it said, adding that the top deals accounted for nearly two-thirds of the overall activity. There were 35 deals of over $100 million but under $1 billion, down from 47 in the year-ago period, it said.

 
Cross-border deal volumes fell 19 per cent compared with the previous year but the deal values jumped two times over 2019 to $21 billion, it said.
 

Indian firms with strong balance sheets have shaken off the shock from the pandemic to chase overseas acquisitions, coming back strong after rec­o­rding the lowest quarterly deal volumes in the second quarter of 2020 since 2011, it said. Cross-border transactions between India and the US dominated in both the in­bou­nd and outbound segm­ents.