Domestic Firms Mergers and Acquisitions in January-September Up 16.5 Per Cent

Mumbai: Mergers and acquisitions involving domestic companies jumped to the highest level since 2011 to $26.1 billion during the first nine months this year. They were up 16.5 per cent from the year-ago period.

During the first three quarters of 2011, the domestic M&A market stood at $34.5 billion, according to data collated by Thomson Reuters.

The average M&A deal size climbed to $75.2 million in the January-September period from $63.1 million a year ago as most deals were in the $500 million-plus range.

Out of this, domestic deals accounted for $11.1 billion, up 206.6 per cent over 2103, due to Sun Pharmaceutical's pending acquisition of Ranbaxy for $4.1 billion. The deal pushed the healthcare sector to capture 40.3 per cent of domestic deal activity.

However, total cross-board mergers and acquisitions plunged 40.2 per cent to $10.7 billion from the last year levels as both inbound and outbound activity declined. While inbound deals fell 24.6 per cent, outbound deals plummeted 70.2 per cent over the same period last year.

Total worth of completed deals amounted to $21.6 billion, up by 3.6 per cent to $22.4 billion in 2013.

Healthcare deals topped the deal street in market share with 23.2 per cent at $6.1 billion, an increase of 145.8 per cent from the first nine months of 2013, making it the highest since 2008 when it stood at $6.2 billion.

Energy and power sector followed next with 14.4 per cent of the deals at $3.7 billion, but down to 39.8 per cent from the same period last year.

The technology, media, and telecom sectors together managed a market share of 16.7 per cent at $4.3 billion from the first nine months of 2013 - an increase of 35 per cent.