M&A industry hopes good deals in 2015

Global M&A deals have seen an uprise in the January to March quarter of 2015 at USD 887 billion, up 23% from the same period in 2014, according to data from Dealogic. In 2014, Global M&A volumes hit USD 3.6 trillion, making it the third most active year for deals after 2006 and 2007. Looking at first four months activity, IB deals professionals expect good deals in 2015.

Few noticeable deals across globe are Royal Dutch Shell Plc agreed to buy BG Group Plc for USD 70 billion in cash and stock; Warren Buffett controlled H.J. Heinz Company agreed to buy Kraft Foods Group Inc. in a deal valued at $45 billion—creating one of the world’s biggest food conglomerates.; Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd’s $24 billion stock buy out of its unit Hutchison Whampoa Ltd; Pfizer settled for a much smaller acquisition of a firm called Hospira Inc. for about USD 17 billion; also, drugmaker, AbbVie Inc. said it will buy Pharmacyclis Inc., the manufacturers of a major cancer drug, for $21 billion.

India Investment banking deals had a buzzing year in 2014 as few big ticket acquisitions were announced. Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd bought Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd; Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd bought ING Vysya Bank Ltd; Ecommerce firm Flipkart bought Myntra. There were also a number of power and cement asset sales from financial stressed groups to those who had healthier balance sheets.

Even year 2015 is being seen as good year for business deals, and online platforms like www.ibsquare.com plays a catalyst role by connecting investment banking professionals for various business deals. IBsquare is a marketplace to source deals for joint ventures, merger & acquisitions, fund raising, buying & selling businesses etc. Finance professionals use this platform extensively to conclude investment banking deals. The beauty of the platform is that a user can post their deals absolutely for free of cost.

With the foreign investment limit in insurance being raised to 49%, permission for foreign partnership in manufacturing defense equipments and focus on make in India, the investment banking industry may witness a good round of JV and M&A activities. Meanwhile, the startup space will continue to see hectic deal-making. Snapdeal bought mobile recharge service, Freecharge, in the biggest ever startups deal in the country. Expect to see a lot more of this as firms that are flush with investor money are looking to expand into newer business areas.

It will be interesting to watch cross border deals especially inbound activities. With the expectation that the government and the regulators are trying to fix systemic issues and valuation expectations of Indian promoters remain reasonable, there is high chance that global investors also show interest in these cross-border deals

Ibsquare.com is an Investment Banking deals marketplace where various stakeholders such as direct business owners, consultants, investors post deals on fund raising, business buying & selling, and investments.