Corporate India prowled the world in 2007, eyeing big-ticket mergers and acquisitions.
In January, after a long drawn battle, Tata Steel pipped Brazil's CSN to acquire Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus for $13.2 billion. The telecom sector saw the biggest deal of the year when British telecom major Vodafone acquired a 67% stake in Hutch-Essar at an enterprise value of $19.3 billion.
UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya had reason to be proud; his United Spirits acquired Scottish beverage maker Whyte and Mackay for $1.2 billion.
The Tulsi Tanti-led Suzlon Energy's acquisition of a controlling stake in Germany's RE Power for $1.7 billion brought more cheer to India. Indian Hotels' acquisition of the Ritz-Carlton, Boston, hotel, USA Tata Coffee's buyout of the coffee chain in the US, Eight O'Clock, added more glitter to India's M&A kitty.
The total value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and private equity (PE) deals in India Inc till October zoomed to a whopping $63.5 billion compared to $30.3 billion in the same period last year.
The biggest overseas acquisition by an Indian IT company this year was Wipro's takeover of Infocrossing Inc along with subsidiaries in the US for $600 million. This was followed by Firstsource Solutions' acquisition of MedAssist Holdings in the US for $330 billion.
The volume of M&A deals rose 53% to 582 till October and the average size of M&A deals increased from $64 million to $85 million this year.
India Inc basked in the glory of 34 cross-border deals, PE funds struck 43 deals with an announced value of $1.81 billion in October. Indian companies sealed as many as 34 cross-border mergers & acquisitions during 2007. Private equity investments, involving 43 Indian firms, shot up to $1.8 billion during the year.
Image: B Muthuraman, left, Managing Director, Tata Steel, Ratan N Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons, James Leng, second from right, Chairman, Corus, and Philippe Varin, right, CEO, Corus, after signing the deal that made the world take notice of India Inc. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: 100 years of Tata Steel: Jamsetji to Corus
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