Defence sector, construction, operation and maintenance of specified rail infrastructure, insurance and medical devices are clearly expected to see a surge in investment in 2015, according to assurance, tax and advisory firm, Grant Thornton.

Unveiling its annual deal tracker, Grant Thornton said consolidation in e-commerce with meaningful returns to investors, PE exits from companies where the 5-8 year window has already passed with exits overdue and inbound deals due to global players betting on India would constitute the remaining portion.

Robust M&A deals The year 2014 witnessed robust domestic and inbound deal activity together contributing over 80 per cent of M&A deal values. Domestic deal value in 2014 was $16.3 billion ($5.6 billion in 2013) while inbound deals logged in $11.8 billion in 2014 ($8.7 billion). Outbound deals decreased to $5.98 billion in 2014 from $9.2 billion in 2013. Value of mergers and internal restructuring of companies also fell to $ 3.98 billion from $4.5 billion in 2013.

In terms of number of deals, 2014 saw 253 domestic deals being struck (218 in 2013);166 inbound cross border deals (139 in 2013);117 outbound cross border deals (82 in 2013) and 37 cases of mergers and internal restructuring as against 58 in 2013.

The top five domestic deals include Sun Pharma’s acquisition of Ranbaxy for $3.2 billion, Kotak Bank-ING Vysya Bank merger worth $2.5 billion, JSW Energy picking up Jaypee group’s hydro power assets for $1.57 billion; Adani Ports and SEZ picking up 100 per cent in Dhamra Port for $932 million and UltraTech Cement acquiring two units of Jaiprakash Associates for $853 million.

Inbound, outbound deals Major inbound deals of 2014 include Diageo increasing stake in United Spirits by 26 percentage points to 54.78 shelling out $1.9 billion and American Tower Corp acquiring 100 per cent in Bharti Airtel — Nigeria telecom Towers for $1.05 billion.

The top five outbound deals for 2014 included Cognizant Technology acquiring TriZetto Corp for $2.7 billion and TCS merging Consultancy Services, IT Frontier Corp, a unit of Mitsubishi merging Nippon TCS Solution Centre for $300 million.

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