By Kamya Jain
1. Arcelor Mittal
The biggest merger valued at $38.3 billion was also one that was the most hostile. In 2006, Mittal Steel announced its initial bid of $23 billion for Arcelor which was later increased to $38.3 billion. This deal was frowned upon by the executives because they were influenced by the patriotic economics of several governments. These governments included the French, Spanish, and that of Luxembourg. The very fierce French opposition was criticized by the French, American, and British Media.
Then Indian commerce minister Kamal Nath even warned that any attempt by France to block the deal would lead to a trade war between India and France. The Arcelor board finally gave in to the deal in June for the improved Mittal offer. This resulted in the new company Arcelor-Mittal controlling 10% of global steel production.
2. Vodafone Idea Merger
Reuters reported the Vodafone Idea merger to be valued at $23 billion. Although the deal resulted in a telecom giant it is safe to say that the 2 companies were pushed to do so due to the entry of Reliance Jio and the price war that followed. Both companies struggled amidst the growing competition in the telecom industry. The deal worked both for Idea and Vodafone as Vodaphone went on to hold a 45.1% stake in the combined entity with the Aditya Birla group holding a 26% stake and the remaining by Idea.
On the 7th of September, Vodafone Idea unveiled its brand new identity ‘Vi’ which marked the completion of the integration of the 2 companies.
3. Walmart Acquisition of Flipkart
Walmarts acquisition of Flipkart marked its entry into the Indian Markets. Walmart won the bidding war against Amazon and went onto acquire a 77% stake in Flipkart for $16 billion. Following the deal, eBay and Softbank sold their stake in Flipkart. The deal resulted in the expansion of Flipkart’s logistics and supply chain network.
Flipkart itself had earlier acquired several companies in the eCommerce space like Myntra, Jabong, PhonePe, and eBay.
4. Tata and Corus Steel
Tata’s takeover of Corus Steel in 2006 was valued at over $10 billion. The initial offers from Tata were at £4.55 per share but following a bidding war with CSN, Tata raised its bid to £6.08 per share. Following the Corus Steel had its name changed to Corus Steel and the combination resulted in the fifth-largest steel making company.
The following years were unfortunately harsh on Tata’s European operations due to the recession in 2008 followed by reduced demand for steel. This eventually resulted in a number of lay-offs and sales of some of its operations.
5. Vodafone Hutch-Essar
The world’s largest mobile operator by revenue – Vodafone acquired a 67% stake in Hutch Essar for $11.1 billion. Later in 2011 Vodafone paid $5.46 billion to buy out Essar’s remaining stake in the company. Vodafone’s purchase of Essar marked its entry into India and eventually the creation of Vi. Unfortunately, the Vodafone group was soon embroiled in a tax controversy over the purchase with the Indian Income Tax department.