India / US Outbound M&A 2024 – Report
2024 Outbound M&A Transactions
Large Indian companies, such as Wipro, L&T and HCLTech, increasingly turned to outbound M&A in 2024 to expand due to limited organic growth opportunities. Smaller Indian companies, which make up the majority of the deal count in 2024 in Table 1 below, acquire to expand the technological footprint and grow in a specific vertical.
The CEO of Sasken Communciations commented on the $40M Borqs Technologies acquistion: “This acquisition reflects our commitment to expanding our technological footprint and delivering advanced solutions to meet the evolving demands of our customers.” (Manila Times 11/11/24).
Anant Goenka, vice-chairman, Zensar Technologies, commented on the $25M BridgeView acqusitions: “Acquiring BridgeView Lifesciences aligns with our long-term growth strategy for our growing healthcare and life sciences (HLS) practice.” (Business Standard 7/18/24).
Joseph Anantharaju, Executive Vice Chairman, Happiest Minds, commented on the $8.5M acquistion of Aureus: “Aureus strengthens our BFSI and Healthcare Industry Groups, enhances our value proposition in these verticals…” (PR Newswire 5/9/24).
2024 Outbound M&A Trends
- Indian firms took a cautious but deliberate approach to overseas expansion, with each quarter in 2024 showing increasing activity.
- North America continues to be the most favoured destination for Indian tech companies looking to expand their footprints abroad. Learn more about the key drivers of cross-border deals in the tech sector in our article on Indian-US Cross-Border M&A in Tech.
- Outbound M&A is driven by strong balance sheets and capital availability among Indian compaies, which will continue in the future.
- India’s GDP expected to grow at an average of 6.5% between 2025 and 2030 (Goldman Sachs Research).
- Sectors such as technology, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals are expected to lead this wave of global expansion.
- Recent regulatory changes in India have made it easier for companies to engage in cross-border M&A activities including the liberalization of India’s foreign exchange laws, increased limits on overseas investments by Indian companies, and a streamlined approval process for outbound investments by The Reserve Bank of India.
- For the US Target, an acquisiton by an Indian company is attractive since it provides access to the growing Indian market.
- Many Indian firms are acquiring US companies to gain access to new technologies, particularly in AI and machine learning.
- A typical valuation for a US IT service company is 9x – 12x EBITDA and 1.5x – 2x revenue.
- A typical valuation for a US software company is 4x – 6x revenue.
- Larger companies, companies with more profitability, more recurring revenue and a higher growth rate generally command higher valuations.
2025 Outbound M&A Outlook
With President Trump back in the White House, the expectaiton for 2025 is for sustained US growth, more animal spirits, and less regulatory oversight on M&A transactions in the US. Indian companies seeking growth beyond their domesitic markets will increaslingly acquire US targets in 2025.
Table 1: Indian / US Outbound M&A in the Tech Sector in 2024
| Announced Date | Indian Acquirer | US Acquiree | Acquiree Description | Price (in USD) |
| 12/16/2024 | Wipro | Applied Value Technologies | Revolutionizing the enterprise technology support experience. | $40,000,000 |
| 12/12/2024 | Magicbricks | PropTechBuzz | PropViz, a technology company specializing in immersive solutions for developers. | N.A. |
| 11/11/2024 | L&T Technology Services | Intelliswift Software | Intelliswift Software provides information technology services to offer digital product engineering across various industries. | $110,000,000 |
| 11/9/2024 | Sasken Communication Technologies | Borqs Technologies | Borqs Technologies is a high-tech company providing intelligent terminal software and end-to-end service platforms. | $40,000,000 |
| 10/1/2024 | JLL India | Raise Commercial Real Estate | Raise Commercial Real Estate is a technology-powered commercial real estate brokerage helping companies search for office space. | N.A. |
| 9/11/2024 | Aston Greens | Smarttrak | Smarttrak provides predictive maintenance and AI technology solutions for optimized infrastructure industries. | N.A. |
| 8/5/2024 | Polymatech Electronics | Nisene Technology Group | Nisene Technology Group specializes in delivering next-generation semiconductor solutions that empower industries and drive technological. | N.A. |
| 7/17/2024 | Zensar Technologies | BridgeView Life Sciences | BridgeView Life Sciences is an IT company that offers software, SaaS, and staff augmentation services for the life sciences industry. | $25,000,000 |
| 5/23/2024 | HCLTech | Communications Technology Group (HPE) | Communications Technology Group provides network applications, video solutions, data intelligence, and Business Support Systems. | $225,000,000 |
| 5/9/2024 | Happiest Minds Technologies | Aureus Tech Systems | Aureus Tech Systems is a technology solutions partner in mobility, cloud transformations, enterprise content management, and collaboration. | $8,500,000 |
| 5/3/2024 | Coforge | Cigniti Technologies | Cigniti Technologies is an Independent Testing Services Company. | N.A. |
| 4/18/2024 | ITC Infotech | BlazeClan Technologies | BlazeClan Technologies is a Cloud Consulting & Products Company. | $58,052,382 |
| 4/17/2024 | VerSe Innovation | Magzter | Magzter is a mobile magazine store for smartphone publishers to publish their digital magazines. | N.A. |
| 2/26/2024 | One Point One Solutions | ITCube Solutions Pvt. Ltd. | ITCube Solutionis a global technology service, consulting, software product development and business process management company. | $10,138,584 |