Indian companies looking for acquisitions in Eurozone

MUMBAI: Indian companies are showing greater interest in pursuing merger and acquisition (M&A) in the Eurozone as valuations at present are pretty attractive on the back of slowdown in the economies there.

"Indian companies are interested to acquire entities in Europe as valuation is pretty attractive due to the ongoing debt crisis," President and Chief Operating Officer of SBI Capital Markets Rajeev Krishnan said here on the sidelines of an event to announce the "Cross-Border Merger and Acquisition (M&A) Forum", which will kickstart from tomorrow.

SBI Capital will arrange this event in collaboration with M&A International, which is a global alliance of investment banking firms of 47 companies.

Referring to sectors that interest domestic firms, Krishnan said auto-component firms along with other engineering related segments are on the radar of the Indian companies.

Sources said that SBI Capital is advising one domestic auto-component company on one such acquisition.

According to the state-owned investment firm, M&A activity is expected to be higher in the coming months as many companies are looking for capital owing to the slowdown.

The overall M&A volume was USD 34.2 billion in the first nine months of the current year, around 40 per cent less than in the same period last year.

"M&A activity has witnessed a slowdown in the recent past. However, it is likely to pick up in the near future," Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of SBI Capital S Vishvanathan said.