India reaches record year of outbound M&A

mergermarket believes strong M&A activity will continue

mergermarket, an independent Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) intelligence service, today releases its India M&A 2010 year-end round-up. The research reveals significantly grow in India’s M&A market in 2010 with a y-o-y surge of 34.3% and 166.5% in deal count and deal value respectively.

With 282 M&A transactions amounting to USD51 billion, translating to a y-o-y growth of 34.3% and 166.5% respectively, the country continued to be an attractive market for investors with USD24.3 billion worth of inbound deals recorded throughout the year. On the other hand, a total of 95 transactions boosted outbound deal value to USD24.6 billion, which made 2010 the most active year on record in terms of outbound investments for the country.

“India’s M&A market, which rebounded rapidly last year after its fall in 2008, could potentially set a new record in 2011. Inbound deals would be driven by India’s strong fundamentals and robust economy – especially in the telecom, pharmaceutical and industrial sectors. Meanwhile, acquisitive Indian companies would look beyond their traditional target geographies of the US and Europe to seek deals in Africa, Latin America and closer to home such as in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Outbound deals would be driven by a need to secure raw materials as well as a desire to diversify,” said Anjali Naik, Deputy Editor at mergermarket.

M&A deals in the telecommunications sectors accounted for 38.4% of India’s total deal value in 2010, with USD19.6 billion worth of deals. Compared to 2009, deal value in the telecommunications sector last year was up by almost 5.5 times. Bharti Airtel Limited’s acquisition of Zain Afria CV, India’s largest announced deal of the year, contributed USD10.7 billion to the sector’s total deal value.

Rothschild advised on 24 deals worth USD30.1 billion throughout 2010, and topped the financial adviser league tables by deal count and value. The legal adviser leagues tables by value and count were both dominated by AZB & Partners, which advised a total of 63 deals with a total value of USD31.3 billion.

About mergermarket 
mergermarket is an independent Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) intelligence service with an unrivalled network of dedicated M&A journalists based in 62 locations across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle-East and Africa. Unlike any other service of its kind, mergermarket specializes in providing forward-looking origination and deal flow opportunities integrated with a comprehensive deals database – resulting in real revenues for clients. 
For more details, please visit www.mergermarket.com