ICICI Securities tops M&A deals chart

I-Sec's spoils touch 15.45% by piloting 14 mergers, while Citi had 14.6% via 10 mergers

By facilitating 14 mergers and acquisition (M&A) deals worth $644.5 million, ICICI Securities and Finance (I-Sec) emerged as the leading merchant banker in the country in 2003, according to a ranking of merchant bankers by Bloomberg.

I-Sec had a 15.45 per cent market share of Indian M&A deals and was closely followed by Citigroup, which was the leading advisor in 10 deals with a total volume of $607 million and a market share of 14.6 per cent.

Last year, Citigroup had facilitated big ticket deals such as the Infosys' acquisition of US-based company Expert Information Systems for $22 million and Wipro buying Nervewire inc for $19 million.

Ernst &Young managed to facilitate the maximum of 24 deals, but the value of these deals was only $385.5 million putting it on the third spot.

KPMG Corporate Finance oversaw 6 deals worth $338.47 million, while Merrill Lynch occupied the fifth place by facilitating 12 deals worth $300.59 million.

Reliance Infocomm's acquisition of FLAG Telecom for nearly $205 million was the biggest deal in the country last year.

The other major deals were ONGC's acquisition of stakes in Sudanese oil filels, GTL Limited's acuiring stake Redington Group, and Tata Chemicals' buying out HLL's chemicals division.

Citigroup and Merril Lynch were also the leading bookrunners in India last year.

The two companies helped Tata Motors issue foriegn currency convertible bonds worth $100 million and were also involved in the $294 million Infosys American depository receipt (ADR) issue.

Goldman Sachs had a 19 per cent market share in the bookrunning business in India, making it the third biggest player in 2003. JP Morgan Chase with 17 per cent and Credit Lyonnais with 7.6 per cent market shares were the other two major bookrunners.

The total volume of international equity and equity based offering made by these five companies for Indian corporates was around $524 million.

Merchant bankers expect Indian companies to do more cross-border deals during 2004 and raise more money overseas through equity and debt.