2018 was a very eventful year for businesses across the globe and especially in India with mergers happening throughout the year and big names joining hands. The most significant of the many mergers and acquisitions that took place in India of 2018 have been processed for a long time and finally, in 2018 the deal was sealed and the mergers made official.
With that being said, in this article, we will take a closer look at all the mergers that took place and also talk about the most significant ones of the year. Let’s begin!
Flipkart and Walmart
We have all heard of Flipkart in India. Since its inception in 2007, Flipkart has become a household name for consumers across the nation for its deals, huge savings and especially Big Billion Day.
For the past couple of years, Flipkart had been struggling to keep their feet in the market after e-Commerce giant Amazon decided to step into the game and thus in 2018, Flipkart joined hands with one of the largest retailers in the world, Walmart. The deal between the giants was announced in May 2018, where Walmart will purchase a 77 per cent stake in the company. The deal which was finalized in August 2018 also included 2 billion USD in fresh funding to help Flipkart in its goal to become the biggest eCommerce retailer in India, surpassing Amazon.
Vodafone and Idea
In 2018 the Indian subsidiary of Vodafone Telecommunications Limited and Idea Telecommunications finally received a go-ahead on their merger from the National Company Law Tribunal or NCLT. The deal which was in works since last year finally was made public in August 2018, making it the biggest network with a subscriber base of 430 million. Companies representatives mentioned that this was a strategic move to fend off competitors like Airtel and Reliance Jio by holding a market stake of 37 per cent in the Indian Telecommunications space.
ONGC and HPCL
India is a country which is heavily dependent on Petroleum and natural gas produce. Both ONGC and HPCL are household names in the country and are the major suppliers of oil and natural gas to a country of millions. In January 2018, ONGC which is a partly owned Government organization announced its acquisition of 51 per cent stake in HPCL in an attempt to help the government meet its disinvestment target for 2017-2018.
ONGC shelled around 5.2 billion USD in its move to acquire a majority stake in the state-backed refinery, which was primarily funded by loans by debtors.
Tata Steel and Bhushan Steel
In May 2018, the steel conglomerate Tata submitted a winning bid of 4.2 billion USD to buy a 71 per cent stake in its bankrupt competitor Bhushan Steel. The announcement which got the approval of NCLT is a move to improve Tata’s domestic capacity and make inroads into the automotive steel, which was till now dominated by Bhushan Steel.
Conclusion
India is a fast-growing economy and thus the biggest mergers and acquisitions of 2018 have had a severe impact of growth on the economy of the country. Now in 2018, we are to see what new mergers and acquisitions take place.
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