It has been a slow year for the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) business. After two years of double-digit growth, it grew at just about 8 per cent in 2023 over 2022. It now stands at Rs 2.33 trillion in advertising and pay revenues.
'Retail investors, who had not seen such a massive correction in the SMID universe since COVID-19, are witnessing something like this for the first time. Panic profit booking may continue.'
Mahindra is coming up with the Thar Roxx. MG Motor India announced a third electric vehicle Windsor. Hyundai and Kia are expected to introduce updated versions of the Alcazar and Carnival respectively.
Consumer goods firms and auto companies are witnessing an upturn in rural demand, which had been lagging for most of FY24. Expectations of a bumper rabi crop harvest have helped turn the tide. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) Monetary Policy Committee kept the repo rate unchanged last week, noting that as rural demand catches up, consumption is expected to support economic growth in 2024-25.
Outbound deal count in the current calendar year fell to 100 from 154 in 2012.
Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com takes the latest offering from the Mahindra stable for a spin.
Tech sectors, including start-ups and IT & ITeS, witnessed the highest consolidation, capturing over 40 per cent of volumes
Analysts have predicted a 23 per cent volume growth for the auto segment between FY22 and FY25, riding on the company's differentiated EV and SUV plan. M&M is already a market leader with a 36 per cent share in electric three-wheelers, and its Zaheerabad plant in Telangana is ready to cater to demand. In the farm segment, the company plans to focus on niche electric products.
In January, Visa's chief executive officer, Al Kelly, said during an earnings call that "there's been a burst of the balloon in valuations in the fintech world". Noting that the trend of lower valuations "is a helpful characteristic of the current environment", he added: "We will look for capabilities and management teams that will bring more value to Visa than we can bring ourselves." Data from KPMG's Pulse of Fintech H2'22 shows that global fintech investment - via mergers and acquisitions (M&As), private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms - at $164.1 billion in 2022, was down 31 per cent over the year before. Indian fintechs held up better during this timeframe, attracting $6 billion, or a fall of 24 per cent.
The deepening funding winter that the startups face and the near dry-up of IPOs singed the deal street as the total value of deals plunged by 60 per cent to $1.8 billion in February, shows an analysis. According to Grant Thornton, the industry saw just 89 deals worth $1.8 billion in February, which is 60 per cent lower than the year ago period in value terms and down by 54 per cent year-on-year in volume as investors continued to tread cautiously amid macroeconomic uncertainties. This is the second-lowest deal volume and the lowest value since 2014.
Mergers & acquisitions started off on a strong footing, hitting a four-year high at $30.3 billion in the first quarter of 2022, bucking the global trend where deal-making fell sharply, says a report. Deal activity grew by 5.6 per cent in value terms in January-March 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2021, making it the highest first-quarter period since 2018 when it was $31.1 billion. In volume terms, the M&A activity grew 29.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2022, making it the best-ever quarterly number, according to the M&A numbers collated by Refinitiv, an LSEG business, which is among the world's largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure. M&As involving domestic companies stood at $23.7 billion, down 8.3 per cent on year.
Wipro was the biggest gainer in the Sensex chart, rising 4.79 per cent, followed by M&M, L&T, Tata Motors, Maruti, Infosys, Nestle India and IndusInd Bank.
Banks have Rs 10 trillion in stressed assets - Rs 7.8 trillion of bad loans and Rs 2.2 trillion of restructured ones.
The stock of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has been touching successive all-time highs on the bourses and, over the past year, gained 81 per cent. While the S&P BSE Auto Index has not performed poorly, registering gains of 73 per cent, it still trails the company by 800 basis points (bps) during this period. There are multiple reasons why investors are beating a path to M&M's counter.
With $120 billion worth of deals, 2018 was the best year on record. Many also blame frequent policy flip-flops and increasing tax scrutiny as big dampners for business.
The US Fed interest rate decision, ongoing quarterly earnings, macroeconomic data and FII trading activity are the major triggers that will drive stock markets this week, analysts said. Investors would also track global market trends and the movement in global oil prices for further cues. "This week, the focus will shift to global cues, particularly the US markets," Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd said.
Mahindra & Mahindra on Thursday said it has tied up with a unit of Adani Total Gas to establish electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country. The auto major and Adani Total Energies E-Mobility Ltd (ATEL) have inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard. The MoU sets a roadmap for the creation of an expansive EV charging infrastructure across the country, it added.
...But sales of domestic passenger vehicles dropped 2% to 3% year-on-year in August owing to low demand.
The market could not make a clear assessment of Tech Mahindra with the stock swinging wildly in the last two sessions. The results on Thursday were expected to be weak but the stock dropped slightly. However, investors reviewed the three-year turnaround plan and decided the stock had been oversold and the price recovered 7.5 per cent.
The top four Indian IT firms have cash reserves of nearly $15 billion with TCS alone holding $5.9 billion in reserves, followed by Infosys with $3.6 billion, and Wipro with $3.4 billion. HCL Technologies has cash reserves of $1.75 billion.
The Indian M&A figure is even more impressive over a 12 month period.
Concerns have been raised over Marico's exposure to Bangladesh in the wake of turmoil in that country. However, the management reiterated expectations of growing domestic business at double digits and maintaining international growth. Marico scaled up its food business by 4 times between FY20-24 and aims to double it again in the next three financial years.
The central government is likely to notify the merger and acquisition (M&A) rules meant to operationalise M&A provisions prescribed under the Competition Act, 2002 by mid-April.
Though the global M&A volume has reached a whopping $3 trillion mark, it represents a decline of 22 per cent from its year ago period, as all regions except Latin America reported decreasing M&A volume, according to data compiled by deal tracking firm Dealogic.
The Mahindra Thar undergoes yet another iteration. With 5 doors, longer dimensions, a more refined engine... and a new name. The Mahindra Thar Roxx, debuting on August 15, promises all that you have wanted in the head-turning SUV, says Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com.
'The deal pipeline across products is robust for 2024.'
On the volume side, the number of M&A and PE deals was 110 in July, 15 per cent lower from 130 in July 2018.
India Inc is likely to witness a continuing surge in merger and acquisition activities after a record number of M&A deals in the first half of 2006 -- aggregating to more than $25 billion.\n\n
Five Indian-origin women executives have made it to Barron's prestigious annual '100 Most Influential Women in US Finance' list for achieving positions of prominence in the financial services industry and helping shape its future. Barron's is a sister publication of the Wall Street Journal, published by Dow Jones and Company. "The list honours established and emerging leaders in financial services, the corporate world, nonprofit organisations, and government," the magazine said in a press release.
Foreign banks and private credit funds are queuing up to fund acquisitions by Indian companies who are buying out their local rivals. The Adani Group, Torrent Group, and the Hindujas have approached several foreign banks and private equity (PE) firms to fund their acquisitions. Global investors have about $2 trillion of funds to invest, and about $100 to $150 billion is set aside for India, according to an estimate by JP Morgan.
Passenger vehicle sales are expected to experience muted growth in the current financial year.
Global merger and acquisition (M&A) deal volume reached $1.5 trillion in the first half of this year, registering a 22 per cent increase from last year levels, says a report by deal tracking firm Dealogic.
Both sports and digital will drag down the healthy operating margins that entertainment television continues to make.
Veteran industrialist and former Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata is looking to sell all 77,900 shares of Brainbees Solutions Ltd, which owns omnichannel baby and mother-care product platform FirstCry, in the upcoming IPO. Tata became an investor in the company in 2016 by infusing Rs 66 lakh initially. He was allotted preference shares of the company.
M&M was the biggest gainer in the Sensex chart, rising 6.51 per cent, followed by NTPC, PowerGrid, SBI, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints and Wipro. In contrast, Axis Bank, ITC, HUL, Nestle India and Sun Pharma were among the laggards.
The Competition Commission of India has introduced draft regulations for combinations or mergers, under the new competition Act, to bring global deals in the digital space, including those involving Big Tech companies, under its scanner. The draft regulations would provide guidance on the valuation of merger transactions and the criteria for assessing sustainable operations in India for companies. The proposed rules mention that if the number of users and subscribers, or the turnover or gross merchandise value in India is over 10 per cent of the global figure, the company would be considered to have substantial business operation in India and would need CCI approval for the merger.
'We are seeing one of the highest discounts in recent years across companies.' 'October is a crucial month with several festivals coming up.'
Value of M&A deals made by India Inc this year will exceed its 2007 levels.
Three business houses are likely to be in the final race to strike a deal with Germany's Metro AG for investing in its India unit -- Metro Cash & Carry. Industry sources in the know named Reliance, Adani Group, and Thailand's conglomerate Charoen Pokphand (CP) as potential frontrunners to acquire a partial or full stake in the Gurugram-headquartered Metro Cash & Carry, which has 31 stores and 5,000 direct employees. Around 20 companies, including strategic and private equity investors, were approached by the German chain, inviting them to bid for the Indian wholesale business, according to a source aware of the M&A developments.
'India has the potential to do a lot more to take advantage of the time today where we stand to gain, geopolitically and in terms of market attractiveness.'