(Bloomberg) -- Billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani will continue to drive mergers and acquisitions in India as the country's richest people are hunting for targets to diversify their businesses, according to Barclays Plc.
“We've seen both Adani and the Reliance Group have ventured into several newer areas,” Pramod Kumar, managing director and head of investment banking for India at Barclays, said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Wednesday. “They do have capital backing them, so we will continue to see them spot opportunities in this environment.”
India saw about $82 billion pending and completed M&A deals in the second quarter, the busiest ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Adani contributed to the frenzy with a $10.5 billion deal for Holcim Ltd.'s Indian operations. Ambani-backed Reliance Industries Ltd. is among suitors for German retailer Metro AG's wholesale operations in India, Bloomberg News reported this week. Both tycoons are participating in the upcoming 5G spectrum auction in India.
More capital will be available to established and well-managed companies in the country, supporting their M&A strategies, Kumar added.
However, deal activity in India is going to slow down as investors have turned more cautious with rising interest rates and a falling Indian rupee, according to Kumar.
“The overall deal momentum in the second half is certainly slowing down, that would impact the overall deal activity,” he said.
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