The total number of deals announced grew 9.3 per cent from a year ago and witnessed the busiest annual period since records began in 1980.

The total value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving Indian companies announced in 2018 till date have reached an all-time high of $125.2 billion, a 98.1 per cent increase over the annual record of $67.4 billion set in 2007. According to data compiled by Thomson Reuters, the total number of deals announced grew 9.3 per cent from a year ago and witnessed the busiest annual period since records began in 1980.

The average M&A deal size for transactions increased to $132.8 million in 2018 compared to $82.9 million over the same period last year.

There was five mega deals above $5 billion involving Indian companies (with a combined value of $39.8 billion) compared to only one during the same period last year (when the $11.6 billion Idea-Vodafone merger was announced).

Domestic M&A hit record levels with $55.4 billion, double the value from over a year ago, and surpassed annual all-time high of $26.7 billion registered in 2017.
Meanwhile, the total cross-border M&A reached $67.1 billion, up 96.6 per cent from last year with the inbound M&A activity increasing 70.6 per cent while outbound M&A activity growing by five-times in value from last year.

The materials sector accounted for majority of the acquisitions involving Indian firms with 22.1 per cent market share worth $27.7 billion, more than a ten-fold increase in deal value compared to 2017, making it the highest-ever period for the sector in terms of value.

Three deals above $3-billion targeting materials sector involving India were announced this year.

Financials placed second with 15.4 per cent market share as deal value reached $19.3 billion, up 70.0 per cent in value from a year ago.

Retail sector took third spot with $18.3 billion worth of transactions, a triple-digit percentage increase in value from a year ago. In May, Walmart based in the US acquired a 77 per cent interest in Flipkart Group, a provider of online e-commerce retail services, from Softbank Vision Fund, a unit of SoftBank Group Corp, and Naspers, for $16 billion. The deal is currently the largest-ever M&A transaction involving India, and the biggest Asia Pacific Retail M&A deal on record, Thomson Reuters added.