Valuations high, but equity deals to pick up: BofA exec

Peter Guenthardt feels that with the dust settling on the new tariff regimes, ECM activity is likely to bounce back

- Sneha Shah & Ranjani Raghavan

Inbound interest in Indian companies for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) will continue to be a challenge given the high valuations in the local market, Peter Guenthardt, head of Asia Pacific Global Corporate & Investment Banking at Bank of America, said in an interview with Mint. He feels that with the dust settling on the new tariff regimes, equity capital markets (ECM) activity in India is likely to bounce back with mega initial public offers (IPOs) hitting the street soon.

"Inbound M&As remain somewhat challenging due to valuation gaps. Paying more than three times the earnings multiples for Indian assets compared to home markets may be hard to justify," Guenthardt said. While India's rapid growth attracts foreign strategics or global companies looking to buy assets in India, much of the growth is already priced in, he added.