Big four win big in M&As with deal lifecycle focus

EY leads the India league tables by way of deal rely (51 offers) and worth ($16.9 billion). PwC ranks second in deal rely (25), whereas KPMG is on the fourth place (16). Throughout the highest three leagues – Mergermarket, Refinitiv/LSEG and Bloomberg – EY and PwC routinely rank first and third, respectively.

The opposite Massive 4 agency, Deloitte, has a giant M&A follow, however its knowledge was not discovered within the league tables.

“The not too long ago concluded Haldiram deal was a defining transaction for our agency. We wish to again extra such strikes that shift enterprise trajectories be it legacy or new,” mentioned PwC India chairperson Sanjeev Krishan.

League deal tables usually embrace solely unbiased corporate finance transactions, whereas the Massive 4 continuously do company finance work whereas engaged on tax, due diligence or valuation elements of transactions during which no separate company finance advisor is recruited.

So long as the shopper provides a credential, the transaction is included, giving them a strategic benefit within the rankings. EY now has India’s largest pure-play funding banking crew, with greater than 25 companions and 200 specialists.In 2024, EY labored on offers like Orient Cement-CK Birla Group, ITD Cementation-Adani Group and New Mountain Capital-Entry Healthcare deal. PwC was concerned within the Adani Energy-Coastal Energen, Ind-Swift-IndiaRF and MG Motors-JSW offers, whereas KPMG labored on the Carlye-Roop deal and Fairfax-International Aluminium transactions, amongst others.The deep relationships Massive 4 have constructed with firms over time by common audit, tax or consulting work has helped them.

Over time, the companies have additionally expanded their function from providing simply tax, due diligence, and valuation providers to overlaying the complete deal lifecycle – from pre-deal work like monetary and industrial due diligence and valuations, to producing deal concepts, matchmaking, tax structuring, and post-deal help targeted on maximising shareholder worth.

“{Our relationships} run deep, and our all-under-one-roof mannequin beats banks and boutiques on worth and impression,” mentioned Dinesh Arora, Offers Chief, PwC India.

Notably, the India CEOs at two of the Massive 4 companies, Rajiv Memani at EY and Sanjeev Krishan at PwC, hail from the deal-making aspect of enterprise, not conventional audit, tax or consulting roots.

The companies began out as primarily mid-market gamers, specializing in smaller however higher-volume offers, however have now clearly discovered a foothold in bigger, extra complicated transactions.

Given the robust deal stream, competitors among the many companies can be intensifying – EY is investing to retain its lead, PwC is rising as a robust contender, KPMG is consolidating its sectoral strengths, and Deloitte is increasing aggressively.

“Our share of offers above $200 million is within the vary of 40%,” mentioned Rohit Berry, president of the technique, danger & transactions follow at Deloitte South Asia.

At any given time, it’s estimated that between 5,000 and 6,000 professionals throughout the Massive 4 are actively engaged on totally different components of M&A and personal fairness offers.