A slew of big-ticket cross-border deals in recent times reaffirms the fact that India Inc has finally arrived on the global M&A scene. If Tata Tea became the first Indian firm to do a big-ticket deal by acquiring Tetley of Britain in 2000, another of the group firm Tata Steel created history, when it acquired once again a British company, Corus in January, 2007, although it is just a coincidence that both the acquired firms are from UK. AV Birla Group, another top business house from India, recently acquired Novelis of Canada. This, an all-cash deal, catapults the Indian aluminum company to the global leadership position in aluminum rolled products with post-acquisition combined revenues in excess of $10 billion. With consolidation efforts gaining momentum, involving both domestic as well as overseas deals, the deal value reached a high of about $20.3 billion in India in 2006 with as many as 480 M&A deals executed during the year, as per a report by the global consultancy firm, Grant Thornton. An important characteristic of the trend has been that majority of the deals, be it domestic or cross-border, is being done by mid-sized companies. Also, the current wave of deal frenzy has so far been dominated by the so-called ‘old economy’ companies. Highly fragmented and overcrowded industries like cement have seen strong consolidation momentum, that clearly emphasizes the fact that consolidation is inevitable. However, amidst the merger frenzy, acquiring firms should ensure that the deal-making is necessity-driven and is not done just for the sake of doing it. Also, the acquiring firm should ensure that deal results into value creation for its shareholders. The book, "IUP Series on M&As in India – Perspectives and Cases" touches upon such aspects and offers insights into the kind of strategies Indian firms can embrace to ensure merger success. The book is divided into two sections – perspectives and cases. The case studies include some of the successful deals, domestic as well as overseas, executed by Indian companies.
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