Merger & Acquisition (M&A) activity in India touched an all-time high of $148 billion in the first nine months of 2022. It was 58.2 per cent higher than in 2021, according to a report in BusinessLine (BL).
Before this, 2018 saw the highest value of M&A deals at $132 billion. The year 2022 saw the busiest first nine months ever, the report added. It was based on data from financial solutions provider, Refinitiv.
“Deal-making activity involving India hit record levels, defying slowdown globally. This was led by the HDFC-HDFC Bank Ltd merger in a deal valued at $ 60.4 billion, the largest Indian-involvement deal on record. More consolidations are expected to drive activity across various sectors such as financials, technology, healthcare, energy & power and industrials for value creation and market share gain”, Elaine Tan, Senior Analyst at Refinitiv, was quoted as saying in the report.
In Private-Equity (PE)-backed M&A activity, India crossed China for the first time since 2008. It accounted for 28 per cent market share in a PE-backed deals. China’s market share was 24 per cent.
India’s domestic M&A activity rose over 190 per cent in 2022 to $105.6 billion. It was primarily driven by the merger of HDFC-HDFC Bank.
The highest share in the total M&A deals was of financial sector services, accounting for $69.4 billion of the total. It saw a 300 per cent jump from 2021.
However, the high technology sector saw the highest number of deals totalling $18.6 billion. These deals had a market share of 12.5 per cent.
Inbound M&A deals fell and outbound M&A deals saw a rise in 2022.