Bain & Co: Indian M&A near an all-time high, with first-time buyers driving deal volumes

The past two years have seen more first-time buyers than ever before. First-time buyers account for more than 80 percent of deals in the past two years (2020–2021), up from less than 70 percent in 2017–2019. More companies doing more deals also means average deal size is now smaller, with fewer $5 billion+ megadeals and more deals in the $500 million- $1 billion range—bringing democratisation in the mergers and acquisitions ecosystem. Bain & Co, in its report 'M&A: Acquiring to Transform,' highlights that companies are using M&A as a tool more than ever before to transform their businesses for a post-Covid world. Traditional companies are using it to acquire new-age companies and startups are undertaking acquisitions to bolt on to their existing capabilities and increase scale and expand to newer geographies. Karan Singh, managing partner of Bain & Company’s India offices and also a leader in the Healthcare and Mergers & Acquisitions practices, talks to Forbes India on key insights from the report.