India-related M&A activity records slight decline in deal value from January to August 12: LSEG Deals Intelligence

India-involvement announced M&A activity declined marginally in January-August 12 to $44.90 billion ($ 44.96 billion), latest LSEG Deals Intelligence Data showed.

This is, however, substantially lower than 2022 level when India involvement M&As had hit a record $136.75 billion in January-August 12 in that year. 

The number of M&A deals so far this calendar year stood at 1,487, nearly 18 per cent lower than the 1,806 deals in previous year.

In July this year, the M&A deal value stood at $5.49 billion, down 30 per cent over level of $7.89 billion recorded in previous month. The number of deals in July stood at 155 against 179 in previous month.

After hitting a three-year low in 2023 in value terms, India-involvement announced M&A activity made a comeback in January-June 2024 and grew 4.4 per cent to $37.3 billion.

• Also read: Global M&A deal values jump 11.7% in Jan-June 2024 to $1.22 trillion: S&P Global Market Intelligence 

Overall activity

Elaine Tan, Senior Manager at LSEG Deals Intelligence, said, “Overall Indian M&A activity during the first seven months of 2024 totaled $44.4 billion, up 3 per cent compared to the same period last year. However, number of announced deals fell 15 per cent from a year ago”.

At least two deals above $3 billion were announced so far this year including the $3.1 billion merger between Walt Disney and Reliance Industries Ltd’s Indian media assets, as well as the $3 billion merger between Data Infrastructure Trust and ATC India. During the same period last year, there were no deals above $ 3 billion, Tan said.

 Deals under $1 billion involving India, which usually represent the bulk of deal volume outside of the mega-deal category, saw a 9 per cent year-on-year decline by value, marking the lowest first seven-month period since 2020. 

Additionally, the number of deals in this segment fell 16 per cent compared to the previous year. This is in line with the global trend which saw mid-market deals below $1 billion decline 7 per cent year-on-year by value, with the number of such deals down by 23 per cent, Tan added.

PE-Backed M&A

Meanwhile, India PE-backed M&A fell sharply in January-August 12 to $6.62 billion ($9.24 billion). The number of deals too declined to 297(476), LSEG Deals Intelligence data showed. 

The decline underscores a broader trend of caution in deal making, as multiple headwinds have significantly dampened buyout and fundraising activity, Tan added.

In January-June 2024, Private equity-backed M&A in India amounted to $5.7 billion, down 33.7 per cent from a year ago, and the lowest first half total since 2020.