The merger and acquisition (M&A) spree of corporate India seems to have hit a low, as India's share in the global M&A tally, which touched a whopping $3 trillion, is less than even one per cent. Till September this year, corporate India has announced merger and acquisition deals worth $26.43 billion, which is around 0.8 per cent of the total global M&A kitty. Commenting on the current market situation, KPMG Executive Director (Corporate Finance Group) Gaurav Khungar said: "The environment is plagued with conservatism and a wait-and-watch approach with absence of decision making or aggression... And questions on prospective bankruptcy risks are abound."    more »

Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) is in talks with GE Commercial Finance, the financial arm of GE, to acquire about 35% stake in the latter’s construction equipment finance business in India. Sources close to the development said that GE is looking at hiving off its construction equipment finance business into a joint venture company. IDFC will hold about 35% stake in the JV company and GE Commercial Finance will hold the remaining 65%. At a later stage, a third investor may also be inducted, sources said. Although the exact quantum of investment could not be verified, industry sources said the valuation of the JV company would be around Rs 650-800 crore.   more »

State Bank of India said it intends to start a private equity fund of $1 billion to $1.5 billion for infrastructure financing with Australia’s Macquarie Group and World Bank’s private sector financing arm International Finance Corporation. Saying there was “no point keeping funds idle”, SBI chairman OP Bhatt said the bank was awaiting regulatory clearance. The three partners signed a joint venture agreement last month to give final shape to a memorandum of understanding signed in April this year. The original plan was to operationalise the fund, which will eventually have a corpus of $2 billion, by the end of the second quarter.   more »