India Inc’s Nov M&A deal tally dips 16% to $2 billion

Corporate India’s M&A activity witnessed a 16 per cent decline in November at USD 2.06 billion, largely owing to absence of big ticket deals compared to the year-ago period, says a survey.

According to assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton, the overall M&A market in November saw a 16 per cent fall in deal value and 7 per cent decline in volume.

There were 43 M&A transactions worth USD 2.06 billion in November this year, while in the corresponding period last year there were 46 deals worth USD 2.46 billion.

“This was primarily due to muted cross border deal values as compared to November 2015, which witnessed five big ticket cross border deals valued over USD 100 million, while this month witnessed only one,” the report said.

According to Prashant Mehra Partner at Grant Thornton India LLP, as the impact of demonetisation is yet to be seen, and the fate of GST is currently in a wait and watch situation, the developments may have a short term impact on deal closures.

“In general, the outlook for transactions seems to be healthy. Domestic M&A along with cross-border activity in core sectors will continue to be the space where we will perhaps see most of the action,” Mehra added.

During November, manufacturing sector led the M&A activity by contributing over 55 per cent of total deal value.

The November deal tally was primarily driven by Dalmia Bharat Group’s restructuring decision to consolidate all its cement businesses under one listed entity. Consequently, this will result in the country’s fourth largest cement producer.

This deal is estimated to be valued around USD 1.1 billion.

Startups continued to lead the M&A deal volume with contributing 28 per cent of total transactions. The month also witnessed some big ticket deals in sectors such as media & entertainment, automotive and infrastructure management.