Lord of the Links

Indian acquisitions abroad have started to snowball. This BW article informs how India is gradually catching up with the international M&A game:

China raised a storm of controversy in the U.S. earlier this year when its cash-rich corporations announced their intention to acquire several American companies, including oil producer Unocal Corp. and appliance maker Maytag Corp. (MYG ). But while China was bidding for -- and losing -- overseas acquisitions, another big Asian country, India, was also investing abroad, but with a minimum of rancor.

Indian companies, which had a very small presence in foreign locales just a few years ago, have inked 62 overseas deals worth $1.38 billion so far this year, buying up a variety of foreign outfits, from engineering design house INCAT International in Britain to Valeant Pharma in the U.S. That compares with just $202 million in deals in 2002. The Indian purchases have flown under the political radar because most of them are small -- the average price of recent Indian acquisitions is just $30 million -- and they usually don't involve big-name companies.

The writer attributes the success to the opening up of the economy, boom in the private sector, and the unabated supply of skilled engineers and graduates. The writer also names the Tata and AV Birla group as being on the forefront of international M&A activity.

We can only expect more exciting times ahead.