Deal activity on the rise in consumer & retail sector
The consumer space also saw 88 PE deals, highest in five quarters by volume. However, the consumer industry reported a decline in M&A activity with volumes declining to 14 deals from 17 a year ago although the value surged to $925 million from $79 million in 2023.
«This is potentially an outcome of the impending elections leading the businesses to adopt a cautious approach, coupled with sluggishness in consumer spending, leading to slow revenue growth. However, it evidenced substantial increase in terms of deal value, primarily driven by Tata Consumer Goods' acquisition of Capital Foods valued at $615 million and Organic India valued at $229 million. Together these two deals contributed to a 91% share in M&A values, at $843 million,» said Naveen Malpani, partner and consumer industry leader, Grant Thornton Bharat.
PE activity recorded the highest quarterly volume since Q3 2022 with 88 deals valued at $823 million, indicating a volume increase by 30% though deal value fell 32%. This was due to more small-ticket transactions in the quarter under review.
In fact, small-value deals at less than 7 million contributed to about half of PE deal volume. Also, late-stage companies raising Series B rounds or above contributed significantly to deal activity.
Top five deals in the sector accounted for 59% of value at $1.03 billion but only 5% of volume. Among these, four deals belonged to the food processing segment.
«Fuelled by a growing healthy food market in India expected to reach $30 billion by 2026, established
