India is in the middle of an M&A boom. An increasingly open
economy, a slowdown in manufacturing, a new company takeover law
and the maturing of Indian capital markets where minority, mostly
foreign institutional shareholders now have clout, have combined to
make deals happen. A new breed of young, dynamic and self-confident
Indian companies, mostly in the services sector, has emerged to
change the face of corporate India.
The stock market capitalization of new companies in information
technology, software services, media and telecom businesses has now
far surpassed the old, family-owned manufacturing conglomerates.
Driven by falling market valuations, the lumbering giants have
begun shedding weight while the high-flyers, buoyed by fancy stock
prices, are in an acquisitive mood. A spate of M&A deals has
ensued broked largely by three Indian investment banks that are
joint ventures with American banks. They are DSP-Merrill Lynch, JM
Morgan Stanley and Kotak Mahindra Capital, a Goldman Sachs
affiliate. ...
