Merger and acquisitions surged 17.4 per cent in the March quarter to USD 25.3 billion across 97 deals, according to a report. According to the report collated by Mergermarket, relaxation in the pandemic restrictions as well as investor optimism due to vaccines roll-out and government stimulus have helped the delay activities.
But, it is unlikely to sustain into the second quarter given the ferocity of the second wave, even though pharma and technology firms are expected to continue to attract investments, it added.
Though the deal value jumped 17.4 per cent to USD 25.3 billion across 97 deals, over USD 21.6 billion across 122 deals, which means the deal volume is down 20.5 per cent during the same period over the same period last year, Mergermarket said in the report.
This is the second highest quarterly deal value since 2019 when it had scaled to USD 26.8 billion across 122 deals.
Pharma, technology, real estate, consumer and energy were active sectors compared to same period in 2020, it added.
At USD 15.4 billion across 43 deals, inbound deals led the M&A activity chart hitting its fourth highest quarterly deal value, logging in a dull 119 per cent growth over the same period in 2020 when it was only USD 7 billion across 52 deals.
The biggest inbound deal was the acquisition of energy company ReNew Power by RMG Acquisition Corp for USD 7.2 billion.
Investments from the US rose seven times in value to USD 9.9 billion across 17 deals over the same period in 2020 when it was only USD 1.5 billion across 16 deals.
However, domestic M&As plunged 1.5 per cent in value to USD 9.9 billion across 54 deals, over USD 14.5 billion in 70 transactions. The largest domestic transactions were the acquisition of 64.3 per cent stake in Supermarket Grocery Supplies by Tata Group for USD 1.3 billion, and 58.53 per cent stake acquisition of Numaligarh Refinery by Engineers India and Oil India for USD 1.28 billion.
Outbound deal value rose by 119 per cent to USD 1.54 billion across 13 deals compared to USD 705 million across 14 deals a year ago.
PE buyouts doubled to USD 3.8 billion in 28 transactions over USD 1.9 billion across 31 deals.
Technology companies accounted for almost 35 per cent of total PE buyouts 11 deals worth USD 1.3 billion, while PE investments in pharma companies jumped more than 3 times to USD 227 million in value compared to USD 61 million a year ago.
On the other hand, PE exits soared 260 per cent to USD 11.7 billion across 22 deals as against to USD 3.2 billion in seven deals, led by energy, technology and business services, representing as much as 87 per cent of the total PE exits. Transportation and construction recorded the lowest deal value.
