India Inc's M&A deal tally dips 31% to $23 bn in 2015

Decline despite number of transactions during 2015 more than previous year

Corporate India's shopping spree witnessed a significant decline last year with deals worth $23 billion, which was down 31% over 2014, says a report.

According to VCCEdge, Merger and Acquisition (M&A) deal value declined 31.5% to $22.9 billion in 2015, compared to $33.5 billion in 2014.

VCCEdge is the financial research platform of the VCCircle Network, which is part of News Corp.

The decline in overall deal volume was despite the fact that the number of transactions during 2015 were more than the previous year, indicating that there was significant decline in deal size.

"While the aggregate deal value is less than the previous year, M&A deal volume in 2015, at 938 deals, is higher than 2014's 892 deals," the report says.

Deal value declined significantly for domestic M&A, though both inbound and outbound deals grew significantly during 2015, the report said.

"Domestic M&A deals fell 58.5% to $8 billion during the year. Inbound and outbound deal value grew 70% to $7.8 billion, and 95% to $5.1 billion, respectively, during the year," the report added.

Healthcare, financials, telecommunications, information technology and materials were the top five sectors for M&A activity by value during 2015.

Also, Mumbai toppled Bengaluru and Delhi on M&A front. The financial capital led the merger and acquisition race drawing 180 deals worth $4.6 billion.

New Delhi and Bengaluru saw 112 and 104 deals respectively.

Meanwhile, equity capital markets remained supportive, helping 70 companies raise $2.3 billion in public offerings during 2015, up 2.4 times from what was raised in 2014. There were 64 deals in 2014, the report said.