India-Partnership announced that M&A activity grew by 4.4 per cent to $37.3 billion in January-June 2024, the latest LSEG Deal Intelligence data shows.
This is the highest first half activity since 2022 when M&A hit a record high of $129.77 billion. In the first half of last year, the value of India-partnered M&A deals stood at $35.74 billion.
However, the number of M&A deals fell 18 per cent to 1,262 (1,546) in the first half of this calendar year. The latest deal number is the lowest in three years, with the number of deals in January-June 2022 at 1,374.
After hitting a three-year low in 2023 in value terms, India-Partnership announced that M&A activity made a strong comeback in January-March 2024, growing 31 per cent to $18.96 billion ($14.50 billion). Went.
Elaine Tan, senior manager of LSEG Deals Intelligence, said mid-market deals, or transactions up to $500 million and where the majority of volume falls outside the mega-deal category, declined 19 percent by deal number â the slowest. Activity from H1 2021.
Tan said, unlike last year, there were at least six deals worth more than $1 billion in the first half of 2024, including a $3.1 billion merger between Walt Disney and Reliance Industries Ltd’s Indian media assets, as well as data infrastructure Also included is a $3.0 billion merger between the trust and ATC India. ,
The majority of India-related dealmaking activities targeted the high technology sector, which totaled $5.8 billion, a 13.2 percent increase in value from the comparable period last year.
Deals with Indian participation targeting the technology, media and entertainment and telecommunications (TMT) sector reached $14 billion, more than double the value of deals announced during the same period last year.
“India’s strong economic growth, supportive government initiatives and thriving Indian equity markets have created a favorable deal-making environment and provide growth opportunities in technology, renewable energy, infrastructure, materials and healthcare-related sectors,” Tan said. Are.”
equity capital markets
India’s equity capital markets hit a record high during the first half of 2024, raising $29.5 billion â more than double the amount ($12 billion) raised during the comparable period last year.
Subsequent offerings grew 156 percent year-over-year in terms of proceeds and 56 percent in terms of number of issues.
This was driven by a record number of block trades, which raised $16.4 billion during the first half of 2024, an increase of 117 percent compared to the same period last year. IPOs by Indian companies raised $4.4 billion, up 98 percent from a year ago, as the number of IPOs also increased 71 percent year-on-year. “The combination of enthusiastic secondary markets, supportive government policies and strategic corporate actions continue to stimulate new listings and additional share sales in India’s equity capital markets,” Tan said.
Meanwhile, on M&A activity, Target India M&A activity reached $34.4 billion, up 8.0 percent from last year. Domestic M&A activity totaled $17.2 billion, down 8.8 percent from the first half of last year. Inbound M&A increased 32.4 percent from a year ago and totaled $17.2 billion. Outbound M&A activity declined 29 percent year-on-year to $2.7 billion, the lowest in the first half since 2019.
The United States was the most active country in cross-border deals with India â both as a target for outbound and acquirer for inbound activity.
Decline in PE-backed M&A
The latest LSEG Deal Intelligence data shows that in January-June 2024, private equity-backed M&A in India amounted to $5.7 billion, down 33.7 per cent from a year earlier, and the first half since 2020 Is the lowest.
It may be recalled that private equity-backed M&A in January-March 2024 was $1.2 billion, down 64.9 per cent from a year earlier and the lowest first-quarter total since 2014.
