Is it true that healthcare sector is seeing record mergers and acquisitions in India?

If you look at H1 2022, India witnessed record level mergers and acquisition deals in the pharma and healthcare sector to the tune of $4.32 billion. In fact, the first half M&A volumes are more than the full year volumes last year. The first half of 2022 saw 53 M&A deals in the healthcare sector against just 47 deals in the whole of 2021. It is also true that this segment was predominated by just one deal i.e. the $3.34 billion agreement by Biocon Biologics to buy the global biosimilars portfolio of Viatris Inc of the US.

The other big deal of the first half of the current calendar year was the takeover of Panacea Biotec’s formulations business by Mankind Pharma for $249 million. Mankind Pharma is also planning an IPO and is well-known in the market for its Manforce condoms. The broad healthcare trend appears to be towards aggregation and consolidation. In addition, the private equity dealmaking was also robust in healthcare sector at $2.96 billion. The broad trend favours restructuring in healthcare space in India and institutional participation.