Mergers and acquisitions continued to maintain pace with almost $2.5 billion worth of deals in the month.
Oil & Gas and Manufacturing sectors led M&A activity involving deals such as Rain Commodities acquiring Belgian coal tar pitch manufacturer Rutgers for $915 million, GSPC Distribution Networks acquiring a majority stake in Gujarat Gas Company Ltd for $470 million etc.
The month also saw Sun TV Network winning the auction for the Hyderabad IPL franchise for $82.5 million and Indian power utility firm CESC buying a stake in BPO company Firstsource Solutions Ltd for over $50 million.
Private equity activity in October witnessed a rebound from September, with 34 deals amounting to $0.6 billion.
Blackstone led the PE deal activity with investments in Embassy Property ($200 million) in the real estate space, and International Tractors Ltd ($100 mn)in the manufacturing space.
“IT & ITES drove the PE activity in terms of volume with 14 deals in the month, with e-commerce continuing to boom,” said Raja Lahiri, partner, transaction advisory service at Grant Thornton India LLP.
