Newsmakers 2022: Here are the 5 most talked about acquisitions of the year

Acquiring an iconic brand may just be expansion for a conglomerate, but for consumers it signifies the end of an era and triggers speculation about changes in the future. Tata’s acquisition of Jaguar Landrover and Mukesh Ambani taking over Hamley’s were seen as India Inc’s arrival on the global stage. In 2021, the number of acquisitions and mergers globally surged to 63,000 and in the first nine months of 2022, India clocked M&A activity worth $148 billion.

The tech sector has been in the spotlight for mergers that went through after being dragged on for a year, and those that had to be reversed in the name of fairness. The media saw a rise of corporate ownership, triggering concerns about freedom of the press and the world also witnessed the homecoming of an iconic brand. As many big acquisitions are awaiting resolution of negotiations and verdicts from arbitrations, here are the most talked about takeovers of 2022.

Air India going back home to TataAfter being bogged down by a massive Rs 62,000 crore debt, India’s national carrier Air India was put up for sale as part of the government’s divestment push. After failing to find any buyer for over two years, the airline once taken over from Tata Group via nationalisation, was again acquired by the salt to steel conglomerate for Rs 18000 crore. Since then Tata Sons has merged Air India with Vistara and Air Asia, to create a major entity in Indian aviation.

Microsoft’s bid for ActivisionThe game studio behind popular titles such as Call of Duty, Activision is next on the list for tech giant Microsoft, as it looks to expand its horizons. The firm behind everything from Windows to Xbox, has made a bid of $68 billion for the game development firm. But it now faces a hurdle in the form of a lawsuit from America’s Federal Trade Commission, seeking to block the deal seen as a ploy to remove Activision as a competitor to Xbox.

Elon Musk netting the Twitter birdElon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter has created the highest amount of drama that the corporate and tech world have seen in a long time. It started by the Tesla CEO seeking to introduce absolute free speech on social media and facing resistance from Twitter’s board, before stepping back citing fake handles as a reason, only to be dragged by Twitter to court to go through with the deal. Finally both parties agreed to complete the takeover, but what followed was a mass layoff hitting 50 per cent of Twitter’s workforce, and changes such as paid bluetick, which hasn’t pleased all Twitter users.

Adani’s move that caught NDTV by surpriseNDTV is a media organisation known to be critical of the BJP led government, while Gautam Adani is an entrepreneur who thrived and bagged airport, port and highway projects from the same regime. This was never a match made in heaven, but NDTV wasn’t left with a choice when Adani decided to make an open offer to acquire the channel, after acquiring VCPL, which had signed a Rs 350 crore loan agreement with the media firm. NDTV’s promoters tried to resist the bid, but eventually had to resign from the board, and make way for the most talked about corporate takeover of a media entity in India in recent history.

Bisleri flowing in Tata’s kitty?Founded in the 70s by Ramesh Chauhan, Bisleri is synonymous with mineral water in India, as its name is used as the colloquial term for bottled water in the country. Tata is one of the most trusted conglomerates, a name which can’t be left out whether salt, hotels or cars are being discussed. As the conglomerate marches forward in the FMCG market, it has reportedly made a bid worth Rs 7,000 crore to acquire Bisleri, as results of negotiations are awaited.

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