ONGC Videsh's takeover of Imperial Energy Corp has propelled the volume of India Inc's merger and acquisitions in the pipeline to $17.8 billion so far this year, says a report.
The $17.8 billion figure is the second-highest year-to-date volume on record after 2007, deal tracking firm Dealogic said in the report.
Corporate India announced M&A deals worth $18.4 billion in the same period last year, it added.
The average deal size also witnessed a jump of 6 per cent. "The average deal size was $174 million, while for 2007, it stood at $164 million," Dealogic analyst Kaushik Punjabi said.
"The acquisition of Imperial Energy by ONGC Videsh for $2.58 billion was the largest Indian outbound deal this year and the third-largest Indian outbound deal on record," Punjabi added.
A sectoral analysis of cross border deals shows that oil and gas was the most targeted industry by Indian acquirers in cross border deal segment so far this year as it accounted for deals worth $3.2 billion.
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Metal and steel followed with $2.6 billion and auto and truck was the third most targeted space. The UK is the most targeted nation by India Inc in 2008 so far, accounting deals worth $6 billion.
While, the US was the second most targeted nation ($4.9 billion), followed by Spain ($1.4 billion).
RBS is the leading Indian M&A outbound advisory in volume ranking till date with $6.7 billion. Citi is at the second spot with $4.3 billion followed by Lehman Brothers with $3.7 billion, Dealogic said.
The top-two outbound deals in 2008 till date are - ONGC Videsh's acquisition of Imperial Energy for $2.58 billion and LSE-listed Vedanta Resources' $2.6-billion buyout of US-based Asarco.
The other significant outbound deals include auto major Tata Motors' $2.3-billion buyout of Jaguar and Land Rover, infrastructure firm GMR Infrastructure's $1.1-billion takeover of global power generation company Intergen and Tata Chemicals' $1-billion snap up of General Chemical Industrial Products, Dealogic added.