There are two breaking news in India right now that is getting everybodys attention.

One is
the general election in April 16 and the other is the RIL-RPL merger. Irrespective of
who benefits from the merger, it technically is the 10th largest M&A deal in India till date.
Mint has column with this view on the merger :
This is a strategy that has worked, though we wonder how long the public investors who
buy shares in the new subsidiaries (through initial public offers) will take to see that they
are behaving like quasi-venture capitalists that fund a start-up and then exit it by getting
RIL shares once the project is ready to spew out cash.
The RPL is a company floated to transfer the risks of a startup from the parent company. It
also was a devise to get Chevrons investment. Once Chevron exit is confirmed and the
production is ready to start, there really is no need to still have RPL.
Even if it is a group company it technically qualifies as a merger. It is also
the 10th largets M&A deal in India. Here are top 10 billion dollar
mergers and acquisitions India has seen :
1.
Tata Steels mega takeover of European steel major Corus for $12.2 billion. The
biggest ever for an Indian company. This is the first big thing which marked the
arrival of India Inc on the global stage. The next big thing everyone is talking about
is Tata Nano.
2.
Vodafones purchase of 52% stake in Hutch Essar for about $10 billion. Essar
group still holds 32% in the Joint venture.
3.
Hindalco of Aditya Birla groups acquisition of Novellis for $6 billion.
4.
Ranbaxys sale to Japans Daiichi for $4.5 billion. Sing brothers sold the
company to Daiichi and since then there is no real good news coming out of Ranbaxy.
5.
ONGC acquisition of Russia based Imperial Energy for $2.8 billion. This
marked the turn around of Indias hunt for natural reserves to compete with China.
6.
NTT DoCoMo-Tata Tele services deal for $2.7 billion. The second biggest
telecom deal after the Vodafone. Reliance MTN deal if went through would have been
a good addition to the list.
7.
HDFC Bank acquisition of Centurion Bank of Punjab for $2.4 billion.
8.
Tata Motors acquisition of luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover for $2.3
billion. This could probably the most ambitious deal after the Ranbaxy one. It
certainly landed Tata Motors into lot of trouble.
9.
Wind Energy premier Suzlon Energys acquistion of RePower for $1.7
billion.
10.
Reliance Industries taking over Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL) for 8500
crores or $1.6 billion.

Top 10 Mergers & Acquisitions in India for 2010

Tata Chemicals buys British salt
Tata Chemicals bought British Salt; a UK based white salt producing company
for about US $ 13 billion. The acquisition gives Tata access to very strong
brine supplies and also access to British Salts facilities as it produces about
800,000 tons of pure white salt every year

Reliance Power and Reliance Natural Resources merger

This deal was valued at US $11 billion and turned out to be one of
the biggest deals of the year. It eased out the path for Reliance power to get
natural gas for its power projects

Airtels acquisition of Zain in Africa

Airtel acquired Zain at about US $ 10.7 billion to become the third biggest
telecom major in the world. Since Zain is one of the biggest players in Africa
covering over 15 countries, Airtels acquisition gave it the opportunity to
establish its base in one of the most important markets in the coming decade

Abbotts acquisition of Piramal healthcare solutions

Abbott acquired Piramal healthcare solutions at US $ 3.72 billion which was 9
times its sales. Though the valuation of this deal made Piramals take this
move, Abbott benefited greatly by moving to leadership position in the
Indian market

GTL Infrastructure acquisition of Aircel towers

This acquisition was worth about US $ 1.8 billion and brought GTL
Infrastructure to the third position in terms of number of mobile towers
33000. The money generated gave Aircel the funds for expansion throughout
the country and also for rolling out its 3G services

ICICI Bank buys Bank of Rajasthan

This merger between the two for a price of Rs 3000 cr would help ICICI
improve its market share in northern as well as western India

JSW and Ispat Ki Kahani

Jindal Steel Works acquired 41% stake at Rs 2,157 cr in Ispat Industries to
make it the largest steel producer in the country. This move would also help
Ispat return to profitability with time

Reckitt Benckiser goes shopping

Reckitt acquired Paras Pharma at a price of US $ 726 million to basically
strengthen its healthcare business in the country. This was Reckitts move to
establish itself as a strong consumer healthcare player in the fast growing
Indian market

Mahindra goes international

Mahindra acquired a 70% controlling stake in troubled South Korea auto
major Ssang Yong at US $ 463 million. Along with the edge it would give
Mahindra in terms of the R & D capabilities, this deal would also help them
utilise the 98 country strong dealer network of Ssang Yong

Fortis Healthcare acquisitions

Fortis Healthcare, the unlisted company owned by Malvinder and Shivinder
Singh looks set to make it two in two in terms of acquisitions. After acquiring
Hong Kongs Quality Healthcare Asia Ltd for around Rs 882 cr last month,
they are planning on acquiring Dental Corp, the largest dental services
provider in Australia at Rs 450 cr
As you see in the list, the M & As have happened across industries and
sectors like banking, automotive, healthcare, FMCG, telecom etc. This shows
that this really has been the dream year of Indian industry.