M&A activities sluggish in Jan-Mar; 33 pc decline in deal value to USD 12.5 bn: Report

The first quarter of 2019 recorded 110 merger and acquisition deals worth USD 12.5 billion (about Rs 86,500 crore), a 33 per cent fall in value terms as against the year-ago period, due to factors such as global economic conditions and uncertainty around Brexit, according to a report.

As per Grant Thornton's quarterly deal tracker report released Wednesday, "This drop (in value) can be attributed to delays in execution of deals, growing complexity in deal structures and macro-economic factors like upcoming elections, global economic conditions, and uncertainty around Brexit dampening investor sentiment."

However, the quarter recorded a marginal increase in deal activity as compared to the fourth quarter of 2018, owing to encouraging factors such as proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, divestments of non-core assets that have no synergies with larger group firms, drive in stressed asset space and cleaning up of bad loans.

The deal volume witnessed seven per cent ...