India Inc deal value surges 38% to USD 3.6 bn in August

Mumbai, Sep 16 (PTI) Deal activity by Corporate Indiain value terms zoomed nearly 38 per cent to USD 3.6 billion inAugust, driven by eight big-ticket deals worth over USD 100million, says a report. Overall deal value — mergers and acquisitions (M&A)as well as private equity (PE) transactions — stood at USD2.6 billion, during August 2015, according to accountancy andadvisory firm Grant Thornton’s monthly dealtracker report. "August 2016 witnessed transactions worth USD 3.6 billion(134 deals) with a strong 38 per cent y-o-y boost in valuewhile volumes declined by 8 per cent year-on-year," the reportsaid. Individually, M&A activity contributed USD 2.5 billionto the overall deal value in August. On the M&A front, cross-border deal value increased by 45per cent as compared to August 2015, and there has been analmost three-fold increase in value in domestic M&A. PE activity, however, declined from USD 1.7 billion inAugust 2015 to USD 1.1 billion in August 2016 once again thismonth, both in terms of value and volume. "The month witnessed a big-ticket merger activity withthe HDFC Standard and Max Life insurance deal, valued at aboveUSD 777 million. This deal drove the deal activity in thissegment," the report said. Further, the report found that the overall dealactivity in the first five months of the current fiscal "hasremained steady, with strong M&A growth driving a 6 per centyear-on-year rise in values, while PE investments sustainedthe deal volumes". "This year has witnessed large domestic transactions withthe segment’s values growing two-fold year-on-year," it said. "Six deals in the billion dollar club and seven dealsover USD 500 million contributed to nearly 60 per cent of M&Adeal values," it added. However, the report noted that PE investments in2016-17 till August-end have displayed a sharp 30 per centdrop in investment values compared to same period year-ago. As per the report, August was dominated by persistentconsolidation in the startup sector with 31 per cent of theM&A volumes with on-demand and online retail segmentsgarnering much investor attention. Telecom, agriculture and forestry, pharmaceuticals andmanufacturing sectors witnessed big ticket deals values overUSD 100 million each, it added. PTI SSM NRB MRPTP