Advisories play a crucial role in identifying M&A deals: Survey

MUMBAI: Consultancies or advisories that work with companies may be one of the primary sources of pointing out merger and acquisition opportunities for many companies, according to a recent survey.

According to India M&A survey by KNAV, a tax and audit consultancy, deals are often sourced from consultancies and advisories.

“Around 40% of the respondents acknowledged that deal identification from advisory intermediaries is the primary source of relevant deal identification. This is on account of high credibility that can be placed on the deals received from the advisory intermediaries. Deals sourced from industry peers and direct from the seller were least relevant for the respondents,” the KNAV survey said.

Technology, manufacturing, media & entertainment, healthcare & life sciences and energy are set to remain top sectors that will see M&A in 2017. Industry experts are expecting a spurt in M&A activity in India on the back of better macroeconomic environment and on hopes of investor friendly policies by the current government.

According to the survey divestments and divisional sell-offs by large debt-ridden companies and public sector units ( PSUs) is set to provide a huge inbound merger and acquisition opportunity in 2017. Even Indian companies would be looking for outbound M&A deals going ahead. Indian corporates are expected to look for targets that meet their strategic need for technology, brands and the access to newer developed and emerging markets, the research report said.