India Inc's deal tally at $33.49 bn in Jan-Apr: Thornton

Corporate India announced deals worth $1.96 billion in April through 28 transactions taking the year-to-date deal tally to $33.49 billion, says a Grant Thornton report.

According to the assurance, tax and advisory firm, M&A values nearly halved in April while volumes declined by 36 per cent due to the absence of domestic action which saw a ten- fold decline on a year-on-year basis.

Meanwhile, cross-border activity grew eight-fold supported by Flipkart's $1.4 billion investment round.

In the January-April period, there were 133 transactions worth $33.49 billion, registering a three-fold jump over the corresponding period last year when there were 168 transactions worth $11.52 billion.

"High-value transactions led to a nearly three-fold growth in M&A values - with two deals in the billion dollar club and 16 deals valued more than $100 million contributing to over 95 per cent of total M&A deal values put together," the report said.

Going forward, the deal outlook looks bullish, it added.

"...Indian corporates may also again start looking at outbound transactions due to the rupee getting stronger and debt funding being relatively easily available to fund foreign acquisitions," Grant Thornton India LLP Partner Prashant Mehra said.

Inbound transactions should continue to remain strong given the weak global markets, he added.

A sector-wise analysis of M&A deals in April shows that e-commerce sector led the deal activity by contributing over 82 per cent of total deal value.

This was primarily driven by the $1.4 bn investment by Tencent, eBay and Microsoft in Flipkart followed by Flipkart's acquisition of eBay's Indian operation for a consideration of $200 million.

The month of April also witnessed a big ticket deal estimated at $100 million in the media and entertainment sector with Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd's acquisition of Indian marketing services.