Consumer companies push deal activity to 25-year high in 2022, shows data

Many small brands swallowed up in catch-up acquisition spree

Consumer companies struck a record 645 deals — acquisitions, investments, and stake purchases — in 2022, the highest in a calendar year according to records stretching back 25 years to 1998. The total value of the deals was $18.4 billion, according to a Business Standard analysis of data from Bloomberg.
 

The spurt in deal-making was led by conglomerates vying for a piece of India’s consumption pie, which is expected to grow by trillions of dollars this decade.
 

Reliance, Birla, and Tata groups led the race for snapping up or investing in emerging consumer companies.

The frenzied deal activity comes amid