As the year draws to a close, deals worth $118 billion have been clocked — a majority from mergers and acquisitions. Private equity participated with $33 billion. In terms of sector break-up, the top five in mergers and acquisitions, were from banks and financial services topping the chart followed by manufacturing, IT, renewable energy and logistics. Private equity investments were highest in e-commerce, followed by other sectors like media, infra, energy and financial services.

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Speaking of the top deals of the year, the HDFC-HDFC bank merger was the largest, boosting the overall deal value for the year. The battle between Holcim’s cement assets, Ambuja, ACC and the Adani group was the most hotly contested, won by the Adani group. Biocon’s acquisition of Viatris’ biosimilar business is path-breaking in overseas deals by an Indian company. Fourth on the list is the global steel giant Arcelor Mittal’s acquisition of Essar group’s port and power assets, critical to its steel assets which mark the full completion of Essar steel buyout via the IBC process, which has been a very long-drawn deal, finally coming to an end. And last is the Yes bank equity deal by private equity firms Carlyle and Advent, which is an important milestone in Yes bank’s bail-out plan.

DEALS 2022

For the year ahead, most deal makers are cautiously optimistic about deal activity, consolidation could be a big theme playing out as economic pressures weigh on weaker companies, and startup funding winter is here, expected to intensify further. With valuations volatile, deal closure could be a challenge while private equity braces up for some value buying next year.

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