'India Inc's Nov M&A deal tally grows 55 per cent to USD 3 billion'

New Delhi: India Inc's merger and acquisition activity registered a growth of 55 per cent year- on-year in November with deals worth USD 3.2 billion, powered by big-ticket transactions and revival in cross-border activity, says a report.

According to assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton, cross-border deal tally logged an over seven-fold increase in value terms in November. The month recorded four cross-border transactions valued at over USD 100 million compared to only one such deal in November 2016

In November, there were 39 M&A transactions worth USD 3,217 million while in the same period last year, there were 45 deals worth of USD 2,074 million.

"Aggregate value of M&A transactions increased by over 50 per cent despite a minor dip in transaction volumes. This increase was primarily driven by a couple of cross-border transactions in telecom, pharma, healthcare and biotech sectors aggregating USD 1.9 billion," said Prashant Mehra Partner at Grant Thornton India LLP.

Compared to October 2017, the M&A deal space in November has been encouraging with an 8 per cent jump in volumes while the value dropped by 15 per cent on account of reduced big- ticket transactions. November did not see any deal in the billion dollar category compared to one in October.

In January-November, there were 389 merger and acquisition deals worth USD 39.86 billion, registering a 7 per cent decline in value terms and 20 per cent fall in terms of number of transactions over the equivalent period last year.

Sector-wise, pharma and healthcare led the counter in November, accounting for 42 per cent of total deal value, driven by Fortis Healthcare's acquisition of Indian portfolio of RHT health trust for USD 715 million.

November also witnessed Torrent Pharma's biggest acquisition till date with Unichem Laboratories' Indian and Nepal businesses for USD 554 million. Its last big-ticket acquisition was in December 2013 valued at USD 322 million to acquire Elder Pharma's India and Nepal businesses.

IT and ITeS and start-up sectors led the deal volume tally, taking a 36 per cent share, mainly a result of revived domestic investor interest in the IT solutions and fintech space, respectively, the report said.