Corporate India announced merger and acquisition deals worth $2.1 billion in August, taking the total value of M&A activities in the country in 2011 till date to over $30.5 billion, a report by consultancy firm Grant Thornton said.
"The M&A activity has shown some improvement compared to the last two months," Srividya C G, Partner and Practice Head, Valuations, at Grant Thornton India said.
According to Grant Thornton's latest Dealtracker report, there were as many as 49 merger and acquisition transactions worth $2,181 million in August, while in the year-ago period, there were 42 deals worth $401 million.
Outbound deals, wherein Indian companies acquired businesses outside the country, were the flavour of the month, with 11 M&A deals worth $0.89 billion, as against 29 transactions valued at $0.29 billion in 2010.
Meanwhile, the total value of inbound deals in August, 2011, wherein foreign entities merged with or acquired Indian businesses, amounted to $0.47 billion by way of 11 deals, as compared to seven deals worth $0.02 billion in 2010.
The total value of domestic deals in August was $0.82 billion (27 deals), compared to $0.09 billion (19 deals) in the corresponding month of 2010.
A sector-wise analysis shows that telecom was the sector that accounted for the maximum deal value, mainly driven by Piramal Healthcare's acquisition of a stake in Vodafone-Essar. The other key sectors include mining, pharma & healthcare, oil & gas and infrastructure this month.
The other major deals of the month were GMR Energy's 30% stake acquisition in PT Golden Energy Mines for $550 million and Group Danone's acquisition of Wockhardt Group's Nutrition business for $355 million.
The top five deals accounted for 84% of the total M&A deal value in the month of August.
On the private equity front, there were 29 deals worth $0.36 billion in August, compared to 19 transactions worth $0.09 billion in the same period last year.
