Deal makers are busy again, waking up from the slumber of over a year that followed the US Treasury debt downgrade, sovereign crises in Europe and policy paralysis in India. In last six days, Indian companies have announced $2.5 billion of outbound acquisition deals, including Tata Group-promoted Indian Hotels’ $1.57-billion bid to acquire Orient-Express Hotels.
Raj Balakrishnan, managing director and co-head, mergers & acquisitions (M&A), at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, said: “Sentiments for M&A have improved globally, and we are seeing transactions in many places.” The investment bank is advising Indian Hotels on its bid to acquire Orient-Express.
Balakrishnan’s colleagues in Europe are advisors to Russia’s Rosneft that yesterday announced its intention to buy British oil giant BP’s 50 per cent stake in TNK-BP, in a deal valued at over $50 billion.
So, what has changed the sentiment? “QE3 by the US government, the European Central Bank’s interventions to resolve the sovereign crises and, back home, the government’s recent measures to revive the economy have improved sentiments, boosting M&A transactions,” said Balakrishnan.
Yesterday, Hyderabad-based Rain Commodities bought Belgian chemical maker Rutgers NV from investment firm Triton Partners for $916 million, in the biggest acquisition by an Indian company this year. The day also saw Dr Reddy’s Laboratories announcing a $45.2-million bid to acquire Netherlands-based OctoPlus NV. An important deal announced this month was of global private equity fund Blackstone acquiring a 12.5 per cent stake in the Sonalika Group-promoted International Tractors for $100 million.
| SPRING IN OCTOBER Top-10 deals | |||
| Date | Target | Acquirer | Total value |
| Oct 18 | Orient-Express Hotels | Indian Hotels Co Ltd,Montezemolo* | 1,573.4 |
| Oct 22 | Rutgers Belgium NV | Rain Commodities | 916.7 |
| Oct 03 | Gujarat Gas Co | Gujarat State Petroleum Corp | 470.0 |
| Oct 04 | Quippo Infrastructure Equipment | Sapurakencana Petroleum | 122.0 |
| Oct 08 | International Tractors | Blackstone Group LP | 100.0 |
| Oct 04 | Shale-gas assets | Indian Oil Corp Ltd,Oil India | 82.5 |
| Oct 01 | Runwal Greens | Runwal Group | 47.7 |
| Oct 22 | OctoPlus NV | Dr Reddy's Laboratories | 45.3 |
| Oct 09 | Greenearth Resources and Projects | Aum Saw Pipes & Industries | 38.1 |
| *Only a bid has been made Compiled by BS Research Bureau | |||
L D Mittal, chairman, International Tractors, said: “We would not have concluded this deal six months back.” It took about 18 months of negotiations by Blackstone to seal this deal. “The improved sentiments really helped in closing the deal,” he said. The company plans to use the money to expand its operations by setting up assembly lines and establishing dealership to cover 100 countries, up from 70, by the year-end.
“The confidence of Indian companies with stronger balance sheets is back,” said Vedika Bhandarkar, vice-chairman and head, investment bank, at Credit Suisse India. “Also, with the initial public offering market quiet, private equity players are pushing for M&A to make exits,” she said.
Bankers, in fact, believe the interest in M&A never waned.
“We never saw the deal pipeline shrinking,” said Chetan Savla, senior executive director and head, corporate advisory group, at Kotak Investment Banking. He explained how increasing interest from Japan for inbound deals compensated for lack of enthusiasm exhibited by European companies.
“It was only that the time lines for deal closure increased due to uncertainties on the economic growth and valuations,” he said. Deals that would usually take six-nine months to close started taking 12-15 months.
According to Bloomberg data, $37.2 billion worth of deals have been announced this year, against $40.2 billion in 2011 and $73.2 billion in 2010.
