2019 witnessed a downward trend in the M&A transactions both in volume

and deal number

The US-China trade war triggered a likely restrained approach concerning

M&A activities in the world

Next year we can expect a lot of buzz in the M&A space of the country

we witnessed a downward trend in the M&A transactions during the year 2019

both in volume and deal numbers, however, M&A activities saw a spur due to
sale of distressed assets under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).  they
account that 70% of the of growth in M&A activity in 2018 was led by
distressed deals. The year 2019 saw some remarkable foreign investments
across various industry segments making its way into the country albeit the
downward trend, the details of a few are as follows:

 Acquisition of a majority stake of 71% in Yatra for $337.8 Mn by Ebix

Inc.
 Lately, Edtech Companies are also catching investor attention through
deals like Blackstone Partners-Aakash Educational Services Limited
and Byjus’s-Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) investments.
 Acquisition of Aadhar Housing Finance Limited by the Blackstone
Partners and other deals in the sector include investment of $250 Mn by
the CDPQ in the non-banking arm of Edelweiss Group named ECL
Finance Limited.
 4% stake pick by total S.A. for $864 Mn in Adani Gas Limited being the
largest FDI investment in the highly regulated gas distribution sector.
 Logistics sector being the arm of e-commerce business saw foreign
investments in the form of Delhivery-Canada Pension Plan Investment
Board (CPPIB) and Shadowfax-Flipkart deals.

We also observed quite a few M&A deals in the startup ecosystem namely,
acquisition of Nightstay by Paytm, acquisition of Fastfox by Elara
Technologies, CRIDS by Sachin Bansal and Wibmo by PayU.

Key Events And Trends That Dominated M&As In 2019

The global economic slowdown and the growing tensions steered by the US-
China trade war triggered a likely restrained approach concerning M&A
activities in the world. This uncertainty around geopolitical landscape led to a
corollary effect negatively impacting the investment activities in the previous
year. In addition to the above, the investor sentiments in India were also
conscious due to the 17th Lok Sabha elections in the country.

Besides IBC, the key trends dominating M&As was the dynamism of the
present government to bolster the economy through its business-friendly
initiatives. These initiatives introduced through reforms in the regulatory
regime is apparent to offer a much needed impetus to the M&A activities in
the country going forward. We enumerate below few of the reforms introduced
during the year which may boost the M&A activities: