57% yoy drop in deal activity during January-June’19

According to Grant Thornton’s Half-Yearly Dealtracker 2019, India’s deal activity (M&A and private equity transactions) in the first six months of this year dropped by 57% as compared to last year’s transactions. While this year the transactions done so far amounted to US$ 32.1 billion (US$ 17.9 billion for mergers & acquisitions and US$ 14.2 billion for private equity transactions), deals worth US$ 74.4 billion were concluded last year. So far this year, 610 deals have taken place. This is the lowest in the corresponding period during the last 2 years. Overall, the international trade environment is marred by several tensions caused by US-China trade war, rise in global crude oil prices and US sanctions on Iranian oil imports.

“We are confident of witnessing an accelerated and mature deal market with a surge in transactions and investments with the NDA government coming to power again,” opined Prashant Mehra, Partner, Grant Thornton India LLP.