Information technology, financial and realty sectors cornered nearly 52 per cent share of the

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68 merger and acquisitions (M&A) deals during June and July, according to the Assocham Financial Pulse study.

M&A activity is likely to pick up worldwide in 2011 due to the desire of companies to invest the cash hoarded during the recession, Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said here.

International deals were the biggest contributor to M&A activity in the past two months with a share of 54.4 per cent. This was followed by domestic market which has a share of 20.6 per cent, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said.

The share of inbound deals - percentage of foreign companies that acquired Indian firms - comprised only 7.4 per cent of the total activity.

The IT sector witnessed maximum buoyancy in M&A activity with a total of 18 deals finalised - one inbound, two domestic, three outbound and 12 international.

"This shows Indian companies are trying to gain entry into new markets besides increasing the product and services portfolio," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.

Outbound and international deals formed a major share of M&A activity in the IT sector during June. July was characterised by a large number of international acquisitions, but the Indian market did not see much of activity.

The key deals included acquisitions of Median AG by Lenovo, Echosign by Adobe and Gen-i Software Solutions by Indian IT major Infosys.