Global M038;A transactions cross 4 trillion mark

India Inc8217;s cross-border deals hit 20 bn, would have been 45 bn had Corus, Hutchison-Essar deals happened in 2006

India Inc8217;s deal street was buzzing as never before in 2006. Cross-border acquisitions topped 20 billion but it8217;s just a dot on the global M038;A space, whose volume has reached a record 4 trillion through 31,858 deals.

Companies in the infotech, telecom, pharma, cement and steel sectors were in the forefront of the shopping spree. 8220;Indian companies are looking at bigger acquisitions now. The latest trend indicates that size of target and funding are no big issues now,8221; said an analyst.

Globally, India-born steel tycoon L N Mittal engineered merger of Mittal Steel and Arcelor has emerged as the world8217;s fourth biggest deal this year. US-based telecom giant AT038;T8217;s 83.4 billion buyout of BellSouth Corporation, announced in March, is this year8217;s top M038;A deal, according to data from global financial information provider Dealogic.

Had Hutchison Essar and Corus group takeovers happened this year, the M038;A deal value would have crossed 45 billion. The acquisition of Hutchison Essar will be India8217;s largest merger 038; acquisition M038;A deal. With an expected bid of atleast 14 billion for Hutchison Essar, the total value of M038;A deals will touch 45 billion.

8220;The acquisition will also give the telecommunication sector top slot in the sectoral ranking of the M038;A table with deal value of 16 billion and a share of 35 per cent in the total deal value 45 billion,8221; said Rishi Sahai, director, IndusView, the India-focused cross-border advisory firm.

Other large mobile telecom deals this year included Aditya Birla Group8217;s, one of the oldest and largest business houses of India, increase in stake in the mobile service, Idea Cellular; and Telekom Malaysia Berhad8217;s, Malaysia8217;s largest telecommunication company acquisition of significant stake in Spice Telecom, etc.

Dealogic had in November said that Indian outbound cross-border M038;A volume reached 20 billion through 147 deals in 2006 8212; surpassing all previous full year totals for the country. However, the fate of Tata Steel8217;s over 11 billion bid for Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus, which was taken into account by Dealogic in its earlier report, remains uncertain.

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Globally, there have been as many as 31,858 M038;A deals worth 4 trillion this year, a 34 per cent jump over 2.99 trillion from 30,639 deals last year, the latest data says.

Meanwhile, the global M038;A backlog reached 1.87 trillion through 3,280 deals in 2006 compared to 1.16 trillion via 2,945 deals in 2005. The US has the highest volume of M038;A backlog this year with 730.5 billion via 693 deals, followed by UK with 140.7 billion via 198 deals.