India Inc inked 252 merger and acquisition deals worth $15.8 billion during January-March quarter, registering a rise of 23 per cent over last year, mainly driven by the Vodafone and Idea deal, says an EY report. The merger between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular for over $11 billion, accounting for nearly 74 per cent of the total disclosed deal value in the January-March quarter.
However, another consultancy Grant Thornton had pegged the Vodafone-Idea mega merger to be around $27 billion, which primarily contributed more than 80 per cent of the total deal value of the January-March quarter.
Barring this mega deal, the total deal value was $4.4 billion for the quarter, the EY report said. According to EY's Transactions Quarterly, in the January-March period last year deals worth $12.9 billion were announced.
“The deal environment looks conducive on the back of a strong economic outlook, and healthy capital markets, accompanied by the Indian Government's increasing focus on improving infrastructure and expanding digital reach across the country,” EY Partner and National Director, Transaction Advisory Services Amit Khandelwal said.