India's Merger and Acquisition deal value drops 34% to $1.24 bn in February; cross-border transactions dominate: Report

New Delhi: The value of merger and acquisition deals in February slumped 34 percent to $1.24 billion compared to the year-ago period, according to a report. Leading consultancy Grant Thornton’s report showed that number of M&A transactions last month rose marginally to 44 last month whereas the same was at 40 in February 2018. In February last year, the total value of M&A transactions had touched $1.9 billion. [caption id=“attachment_2011611” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative Image. Reuters[/caption] “While February 2019 recorded same number of deals valued and estimated at over $100 million as witnessed in February 2018, the high valued deals totalled to only $0.9 billion compared to $1.5 billion in February 2018,” it said. Pankaj Chopda, Director, Grant Thornton India LLP, said the shortening of the run-up period to the national elections will only deepen the wait-and-watch approach in the deal environment in the short term and much is expected post the results of the general elections. Regarding last month, he noted that M&A transactions were dominated by cross-border transactions as against a mix of cross-border and merger transactions in the same period a year ago. “The month of February recorded the highest volumes in seven months, demonstrating the strong urge to expand outside local territory surpassing global headwinds,” he added.