New Delhi: Private equity firms invested about USD 5.44 billion across 117 deals during the quarter ended March 2017, 36 per cent higher than the year ago period even as the number of transactions declined, says a survey.
According to early data from Venture Intelligence, private equity investments in the first quarter of this year rose 36 per cent on a year-on-year basis and 23 per cent over the previous quarter (October- December 2016).
However, the number of investments was lower by 41 per cent compared to last year and 35 per cent lower than the previous quarter.
"Interestingly, almost USD 3.6 billion, or 2/3rds of the total value of the investments during the period, were announced/reported in just March," noted Arun Natarajan, CEO of Venture Intelligence.
The surge in deal value was driven by big ticket deals. The latest quarter witnessed 11 PE investments worth USD 100 million or more compared to 12 such transactions in the same period last year and eight during the immediate previous quarter.
Many of the larger deals during January-March this year involved secondary sales by either promoters or existing PE investors, the report noted. Telecom tower firm Bharti Infratel saw parent firm Bharti Airtel sell a 10.3 per cent stake to KKR and Canadian pension fund CPPIB for almost USD 952 million. CPPIB also invested USD 720 million in IT services firm GlobalLogic, providing an exit route for existing PE investor Apax Partners.
True North (formerly India Value Fund) exited one hospital chain (Manipal Health via a USD 215 million sale to Temasek) and entered a new one (KIMS Group via a USD 200 million investment that gave an exit to Ascent Capital and OrbiMed). Sector-wise, IT and ITES companies accounted for 53 per cent of the PE investment value pie in January-March quarter of this year, attracting almost USD 2.9 billion across 64 deals.
Meanwhile, BFSI companies attracted USD 498 million across 17 PE investments, followed closely by healthcare and life sciences companies which attracted USD 496 million across eight transactions, the report added.
