Merger & acquisition (M&A) and private equity (PE) deal activities witnessed a surge in October, with a cumulative mop-up of $3.1 billion from 90 transactions.

In the corresponding period of 2011, 77 deals worth a little under $1 billion took place, according to audit, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton.

M&A deals during the month amounted to $2.5 billion, led by the oil and gas and manufacturing sectors. The deal tally was driven by Rain Commodities’ acquisition of a 100 per cent stake in Belgium-based coal tar pitch manufacturer Rutgers NV for $95 million from private equity owner Triton Partners.

The stake was bought by the company’s Hyderabad-based subsidiary, Rain CII Carbon LLC.

Besides this, GSPC Distribution Networks’ majority stake purchase in Gujarat Gas Company Ltd for $470 million and Sun TV Network’s successful bid of the Hyderabad IPL franchise for $82.5 million gave a boost to M&A activity in October.

Indian power utility firm CESC’s purchase of a stake in BPO company Firstsource Solutions for over $50 million was another highlight during the month.

Flavour of the month

Outbound M&A deals were the flavour of the month, with Indian businesses spending $1.2 billion on acquisition of businesses overseas through 17 deals.

The 14 inbound deals that took place during the month were valued at just $0.4 billion. Besides this, 23 deals valued at $0.8 billion were inked between India-based companies in October.

A total of 34 private equity deals valued at $0.6 billion also took place during the month. Blackstone led the PE deal activity with a $200-million investment in Embassy Property in the real estate space, besides a $100-million deal with International Tractors in the manufacturing space.

IT and ITeS led other sectors in terms of PE deal volumes during the month on the back of keen interest in e-commerce.

Three public offers were made in October, which raised just $2.4 million from the public.

>arvind.jayaram@thehindu.co.in

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