170 M&A deals worth USD 4.2 bn in Jan and Feb: Grant Thornton

The deal street remained moderate during the first two months of the year with only 170 deals worth USD 4.2 billion as cross-border activity remained tepid during the month, said Grant Thornton India.
"The mergers and acquisitions (M&A) scenario remained moderate in the first two months of 2014 with 170 deals worth USD 4.2 billion, thinks to a pick-up in in-bound following the Sembcorp investment in NCC Power Projects. But cross-border deal activity remained rather lukewarm," Grant Thornton India partner for transaction advisory services Raja Lahiri said in a note.
However, he noted that the telecom sector saw some activity towards consolidation, with Bharti buying out Loop Mobile for Rs 700 crore, and it was the e-commerce sector which saw many PEs/ venture capital (VC) deals.

The total M&A and private equity deals in February were valued at USD 2.6 billion from 83 deals, compared to USD 3.3 billion from 75 deals in the same months of 2013, he said.
Though the overall deal value was lower, volume remained steady in the month.
The top M&A deal was Aman Resorts' acquisition of Silverlink Holdings for USD 358 million, representing 20 per cent of total M&A deal value.
The top PE deal was USD 183 million investment by Temasek and IDFC Alternatives in GMR Infrastructure, representing 22 per cent of total PE deal value in the month.