India Inc's March deal value at $2.27 bn: Grant Thornton

NEW DELHI: Merger and acquisition deals' volume of India Inc soared about nine fold to $2.27 billion in March over the previous month, the first upsurge in about a year on monthly basis, on a large number of consolidation and reorganisation activities.

The total number of M&A and group restructuring deals for March 2009 stood at 21 with an announced value of $2.27 billion, a nine-fold jump from that in February, global consultancy firm Grant Thornton said in the issue of Dealtracker.

The volume of M&A deal in February 2009 stood at around $250 million.

"One of the key reasons for the surge in deal values is an increase in the announced value of consolidation and reorganisation activities, in addition to a more positive outlook towards strategic acquisitions.

"We expect the consolidation initiatives to increase in future," Grant Thornton Specialist Advisory Services Partner C G Srividya said.

During March, there were 11 domestic deals where both acquirer and target company were Indian with an announced value of $86.89 million and eight cross-border deals with an announced value of $296.67 million.