India's M&A deal tally in Nov at $2.7 bn

After three months of sluggish activity the country's deal street has picked up pace with corporate India announcing merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions worth $2.7 billion in November this year.

According to global consultancy firm Grant Thornton, in the month of November India Inc's M&A deal value stood at $2,765 million, up from $530 million in October and $601 million in September and $390 million in August this year.

"After three months of relatively lower activity, M&A values have shown significant increase in November 2010 with $2.7 billion worth of deals," Grant Thornton Partner, Specialist Advisory Services C G Srividya said.

Inbound deals, wherein, foreign companies or their subsidiaries acquired Indian businesses were the flavour of the month, as this segment cornered deals worth $1.51 billion, while, the total value of outbound deals -- Indian firms acquiring businesses abroad -- was at $0.80 billion.

The total value of domestic deals in November 2010 was $0.46 billion as against $0.21 billion in 2009.

The largest deal in November 2010 was China Huaneng Corp's acquisition of US-based IntergenInc from GMR Infrastructure. GMR Group acquired 50 per cent stake in Intergen for $1.232 million in October 2008.

Referring the Axis Bank's acquisition of Enam Securities for nearly $440 million as a "unique deal in the investment banking space," Srividya said it (the deal) could set a trend going forward.

The top five M&A deals accounted for 83 per cent of the total M&A deal values, the report added.

A sector wise analysis shows that power and energy sector cornered 45 per cent of the total M&A deal pie, followed by banking and financial services which accounted for 18 per cent and mining and textiles (15 per cent), Grant Thornton added.