M&A Magazine

Indian companies are increasingly looking at South East Asian countries for business and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) because there is a good strategic and cultural fit with companies in the region. Indian companies in sectors such as healthcare, consumer and industrials have done M&As with counterparts in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Smart Indian entrepreneurs are increasingly looking at South East Asia for its sizeable collective market, greater ease of doing business, and large unmet demand for information technology expertise. Moreover, barring Singapore, education in technology and engineering is considerably lacking in South East Asia and that is where Indian entrepreneurs are gradually making a mark in the region. The M&As deals between Indian and South East Asia countries grew from $8.1 billion in 2016 to $14.9 billion in 2018, according to data from Grant Thornton. Moreover, a survey done by Baker McKenzie on 100 C-Suite India...

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have got a leg up, thanks to rising cases filed under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) . Till the last count, M&A deals in distressed asset sales worth around $14.3 billion were done since the code became functional in December 2016, according to data from Kroll and Mergermarket. Such sales will rise as more and more companies line up to face the new bankruptcy law. Data from Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India show that more than $26 billion in distressed steel assets are coming on block, while banks are unwilling to take more haircuts and more companies will be put under the IBC and make their way through the NCLT process. In fact, opportunities for investors and acquirers have grown as quality assets at attractive valuations come to market. Distress M&As account for 12% of the total M&A value this year, led by deals involving Bhushan Steel ($7.4 billion).  In terms of actual deals, distressed M&As has ac...

Antitrust laws play an important role in ensuring that corporate transactions such as Mergers & Acquisitions have the benefit of competitive prices and quality of goods and services. The antitrust laws accomplish these goals by promoting and fostering competition in the marketplace and preventing anticompetitive mergers and business practices. In the last 20 years, virtually every developed nation in the West has created a sophisticated legal system to deal with restrictive agreements, abuse of market power and notification and regulation of mergers and acquisitions that pose a threat to competition. Overview of US and EU laws: The antitrust laws of the US and the EU address almost identical sets of anti-competitive practices and combinations, but they slightly differ with criteria of assessment and means of enforcement. While the US antitrust law aims for maximum diffusion of competition, the EU law aims at the diffusion of competitive power tempered by cooperation. The tw...

Ever since the government introduced the bankruptcy law, host of companies right from steel, power, cement and construction have put their distressed assets on sale and potential bidders are chalking out deals to snap up assets of loan defaulting companies. The wave of deal-making can push mergers and acquisitions (M&A) at a record high level this year. With banks pushing for change in management of loan defaulting companies, that will result in bigger corporate assets which will be available for acquisition at a throw-away price. Swift, time-bound resolution or liquidation of stressed assets will be critical for de-clogging bank balance sheets and for efficient reallocation of capital. Stressed assets are in multiple sectors, so M&As are expected to happen in multiple sectors. Rising stressed assets with banks The Reserve Bank of India has mandated early bankruptcy resolution of 12 cases, which account for a bulk of the stressed assets of banks.   These cases ar...