Year of consolidation: Top five mergers and acquisitions in Indian businesses in 2016

From e-commerce space to the energy sector, India Inc 2016 saw a lot of mergers and acquisitions as companies changed gears to consolidate their businesses. 

Top five deals of the year are as follows:

1. Myntra & Jabong 

Online fashion shopping hub, Myntra which was earlier acquired by Flipkart in 2014, acquired Jabong for a whopping $70 million. The all-cash deal was only sealed after Global Fashion Group decided that Jabong had to tie up with a local player to succeed. Jabong has managed to minimise losses after reducing discounts. 

2. HDFC Life & Max Life  

HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh and Max Group Chairman Analjit Singh announced a deal merging their life insurance businesses to create what they said will eventually be India's largest listed life insurance.
Under the three-step merger process, Max Life will first combine with its parent Max Financial Services Ltd. In the next stage, the insurance unit will be demerged from this entity into HDFC Life.

Finally, the non-insurance businesses of Max Financial will merge into group company Max India Ltd. The valuation of the merged life insurance entity will be around Rs 65,000 crore and will be called HDFC Life. 

3. Reliance Communications & Aircel 

In the biggest consolidation deal in the telecom sector, Reliance Communications Ltd signed the deal to buy unlisted telecom operator Aircel to create a Rs 65,000 crore entity. The RCom-Aircel combination will create a telecom operator ranked fourth by customer base and revenues. RCom will turn its wireless will turn its wireless business into a special purpose vehicle in a slump sale, excluding the tower and overseas arms of the Ambani company. 

4. Aditya Birla & Forever 21

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL) in the first quarter of this financial year acquired Forever 21 from Diana Retail Pvt Ltd for $26 million. The company said that the acquisition would help the Group in becoming the largest integrated branded fashion player in the country.

Forever 21 has over 700 stores globally, and is expected to help the group in establishing a strong foothold in the women’s apparel segment, the company said.

5. Tata Power & Welspun

Mid-September saw the M&A between Welspun and Tata Power who now indirectly holds only 13.66% equity stake in Welspun Renewable Energy services. The deal represents the largest transaction in renewables space in India, Tata Power  said as WREPL has 1,141 MW of Renewable Power projects comprising of solar and wind power projects.