10 Major Overseas Acquisitions by Indian Companies

1. Corus Group (U.K.)

Acquired by - Tata Group

Tata Steel, one of the leading steel producers in India, acquired Corus Group for U.S. $12.11 billion (€ 8.5 billion) on January 31, 2007. But only after nine rounds of bidding, the acquisition process was completed. The only other competitive bidder was Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN), Brazil.

This acquisition is considered to be one of the biggest foreign acquisitions by an Indian company, and after this only TATA Steel came out to be the fifth largest steel producer in the whole world.

2. Zain Africa

Acquired by - Bharti Airtel

India's largest mobile services company, Bharti Airtel’s ambition to expand into the markets outside India was completed after this complete acquisition of the African operations of Mobile Telecommunications Company (known as Zain).

Bharti Airtel had acquired Zain Africa for a value of U.S. $10.7 billion. The acquisition gives Bharti Airtel a total customer base of 180 million, including 131 million subscribers it had in India at the end of April.

“By expanding its business outside the country, Bharti Airtel can in the long term benefit from economies of scale, including getting better deals from suppliers” says, Kamlesh Bhatia, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner.