India Inc's M&A deal value shrinks in April

The total value of mergers and acquisitions by Indian companies in April declined 73 per cent year-on-year to US$1.97 billion because of poor appetite for big ticket deals.

There were 60 M&A deals announced last month. In April last year, there were 64 M&A transactions worth US$7.44 billion, says a report by Grant Thornton India.

The average deal size also declined and there were no big ticket deals, it said. The average deal size was US$32.94 million.

Inbound deals, wherein foreign companies or their subsidiaries acquired Indian businesses, were the flavour of the month. The total value of inbound deals stood at US$1.1 billion through 21 transactions, whereas there were 7 outbound deals (Indian companies acquiring businesses outside India) aggregating just US$0.4 billion.

Meanwhile, the total value of domestic deals in April was US$0.5 billion from 32 deals, compared with US$0.2 billion through 25 transactions in the same month in 2011. “The top five M&A deals accounted for 69 per cent of the total M&A deals values,” the report said.