Mumbai, Oct 6 (IANS): India's mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in Q3 of 2016 has reached its highest quarterly value on record, a global financial report says.

According to M&A intelligence service firm Mergermarket's "Global and Regional M&A: Q1-Q3 2016" report, 98 deals worth $27.7 billion were finalised during Q3 raking-in the highest quarterly value on record. 

The report said that to-date in 2016, India's M&A activity in terms of value has accelerated by 36 per cent to a new record high when compared to the whole of 2015.

"India's M&A activity (278 deals, US$46.0bn) has reached its highest on record, up 36.2% by value compared to the whole of 2015 (US$33.8bn, 419 deals)," the M&A intelligence service firm said.

"The highest valued deal of the year -- Grasim Industries' US$8.0bn acquisition of Aditya Birla Novo -- resulted in Telecommunications (five deals, US$16.0bn) overtaking all annual deal values targeting the sector on record."

According to Mergermarket intelligence, targeted government policies have led to consolidation within the sector.

On the global front, the report elaborated that to-date in 2016, M&A activity in terms of value has declined by 20.2 per cent when compared to the same period in 2015. 

"Global M&A dealmaking in 2016 has not been able to achieve the dizzying heights reached in 2015, with political uncertainty, increased regulation and decreased confidence on boards all weighing down on activity," the report said.

"To-date in 2016, 12,283 deals worth US$2.2tn represents a 20.2% value decrease compared to the same period in 2015 (US$2.8tn, 13,263 deals)."

The report highlighted that although global M&A activity was lower when compared to the two preceding years, the total deal value has experienced two quarterly value increases in 2016.

"Although M&A activity is down compared to the two preceding years, deal value has experienced two quarterly value increases this year, with Q3 (US$ 812.9bn) increasing 8.8% compared to Q2 (US$ 747.2bn)," the report added.