PE investments bounce back; April sees deals worth USD 3.16 bn

New Delhi: Private equity investments saw a significant upturn in April with deals worth USD 3.16 billion, up 69 per cent from a year ago, due to big ticket transactions.  From a 32-month low recorded in February this year, the deal tally in April represents a significant bounce back both in terms of number of deals as well as value. 

According to assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton, there were 86 PE deals worth USD 3.16 billion in last month, while 63 such transactions worth USD 1.87 billion were announced in April last year. 

Eight large deals valued at over USD 100 million contributed to around 70 per cent of the total PE deal values last month. 

"April clocked over 100 transactions valued at around USD 5 billion (including M&As) which was almost at par with last year's activity. While M&A contributed around USD 2 billion, the key driver was PE which contributed around USD 3 billion from around 90 transactions," Prashant Mehra  Partner at Grant Thornton India LLP said. 

In the January-April period this year, PE investment values saw a marginal increase with 8 per cent rise in investment values while volumes declined by 20 per cent over the corresponding period last year. 

A sector-wise analysis shows that PE/VC investments in start-ups contributed 52 per cent of total deal volume, with sub-sectors like health tech, data analytics & AI and travel, transport & logistics space witnessing more than 42 per cent investments in last month. 

PE deals were dominated by telecom, driven by Bharti Airtel's stake sale in its subsidiary Bharti Infratel Ltd to KKR and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in order to reduce its debt.  Other sectors such as IT & ITES, real estate, pharma, banking and energy also attracted large investments of over USD 100 million last month. 

"While most of the traction has been witnessed in the technology sector, contributing over USD 1.7 billion, there was traction in the other core sectors as well like Financial Services and Pharma. 

"Two major transactions in April were: the investment in Flipkart valued at USD 1.4 billion; and the PE investment of USD 950 million in Bharti Infratel," Mehra said.