The USD 8.5 billion merger between Reliance and Disney helped the overall deal activity in the March quarter of 2024 reach a nearly two-year high, a report said on Tuesday.

The overall number of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions and private equity investments, inched up to 427 from 422 in the quarter-ago period, but the values surged by 43 per cent to USD 20.416 billion, the report by the consultancy firm Grant Thornton Bharat said.

This performance is the highest in deal activity since the June quarter of 2022, the report said.

The March 2024 quarter witnessed a 36 per cent drop in the number of high-value deals of over USD 100 million from 28 to 18, while billion-dollar deals registered an uptick compared to the previous quarter.

There were three billion dollar deals collectively valued at over USD 12 billion, that accounted for nearly 59 per cent of the total deal values in Q1 2024, it said.

The overall deals included 120 merger and acquisition transactions, while the remaining were private equity transactions, the report said.

Domestic volumes remained dominant in M&As, but they have shown a declining trend over the past year. However, on the other hand, cross-border activity, witnessed its second-highest quarterly volumes in the last five years.

The PE activity surged with 307 deals amounting to USD 8.1 billion, which is a 51 per cent rise by value and a 10 per cent rise in volumes over the previous quarter.

The retail sector led the volumes for the month followed by IT and banking, while media and entertainment, telecom and retail led in values. The merger of Viacom18 Media with Star India, creating an enterprise value of USD 8.5 billion was termed as the deal of the quarter in the report.

The firm’s partner Shanthi Vijetha said the surge in deal activity, driven by increased private equity involvement and notable mega mergers, showcases the resilience of the market despite fluctuations.