Succession: Keep it in the family?

Hello,

This week, S&P’s upgrade came as a nice surprise and it might nudge down the cost of capital.

Crisis-hit chip groups may look India’s way for tech transfer in memory and display supply chains. Australia may also team up with India in rare earths cooperation, opening upstream deals alongside any state-backed efforts. 

Meanwhile, Puducherry-native Aurobindo Pharma’s bid for Prague’s Zentiva ($5.5bn) came as a reminder that Indian drugmakers are buying scale, regulatory approvals and supply chain resilience overseas. 

On regulation: with CIC approval, Skechers stepped closer to its $9.4bn deal with 3G and GIC, signalling policy comfort with large PE-led cross-border transactions. 

And recently announced insolvency reforms will rewire distressed M&A as timelines, creditor bargaining power and recovery must now be baked into models. 

Business sherpa Amitabh Kant believes in easing China tensions to make the road to electronics JVs — in a local manufacturing push — smoother. 

Finally, private credit surged to $9bn in H1 2025, said EY. More dry powder and direct lending are reshaping buyout finance; and continuation funds are also rising as exits prove hard —  both covered in previous Teaser India editions. 

I hope you enjoy this week’s roundup — please connect on LinkedIn to discuss your next M&A deal.

Let’s dive in.

Deal Tracker

Our weekly roundup of confirmed M&A deals in India.

Market Trends

Not my business 

Season 2 of PBS’s Wolf Hall (from Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light) is really just a study in succession risk, though with extra helpings of romance and slaughter.

Cromwell’s job was to keep the machinery of state humming, while Tudor England waited for an heir. India Inc. is learning similar lessons as future heirs and top seats remain just as contentious as when horses were the main mode of transport. 

When UK-based Sona BLW CEO Sunjay Kapur died unexpectedly about a month ago, the rumour mill churned. Press coverage of an aggrieved mother and a Bollywood star quickly turned corporate governance into frontpage drama in both India and the UK. Reports of a tense AGM, a family tussle, objections from relatives and questions over heirs read like a study in succession risk. 

But when the board moved to approve Kapur’s entrepreneur-widow Priya Sachdev, via regulatory filing, markets read it as a stabilising step: shares steadied. But the firm chose to keep the wealth in the family —  which remains the larger trend in India, and globally. 

So, when a power vacuum appears through death, dispute or departure, can institutions keep trading, shipping, hiring and closing deals without coming unhinged?

Son, plan B is plan A

To gauge the maturity and quality of governance in a firm, look at how many business leaders have a formal succession plan. Globally just over half do (52%). In India the picture is only about 47%. 

In the best global firms, CEO succession is treated as a Day-One agenda item.

Most businesses have no Plan B 

Source: HSBC survey 2025

Illusion of control

Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore all struggle with succession. Globally 78% of entrepreneurs want their businesses to remain family-controlled to preserve legacy, but it is more acute here at 88%. 

The private corporate landscape is dominated by affluent families (80-85%); yet only 14% make it to the third generation and 5% to the fourth. 

Source: HSBC

Does family ownership help performance?

There is evidence that high family engagement – where members pursue new ventures, invest in market research or develop innovative products – correlates with better outcomes. 

Yet how many family businesses globally ‘strongly agree’ they behave this way? About a third:

Source: HSBC

Size and other matters

In the UK, family ownership is common among micro and small firms, and thins out as enterprises scale. This may explain why succession planning is more common (and more urgent) in larger, deal-facing companies, where the new heir isn’t as obvious as in a family firm. 

Source: FamilyBusiness.org

Regulators, take note. Though governance risks vary by company size, it might still create systemic exposure for local employment. SME-specific succession and disclosures, as well as creditor protections in India need pondering. 

While family businesses are more likely to be high performing, as seen in the data below, family-run targets raise due diligence flags for acquirers due to opaque records, as well as related-party issues requiring pricing adjustments, retention incentives and tighter transitions.

High family-engagement firms (TES) report better performance vs global average

Source: KPMG family business report 2025

To conclude, codified succession isn’t a minor issue, it’s central to valuation and certainty. When poorly managed, it can derail deals; a robust succession framework reassures investors, preserves pipelines and safeguards enterprise value. 

In India the instinct to keep it in the family is strong, and that is not a problem in itself — what’s weaker is the discipline to make that workable.