PE investments at 4-year high in 2014: Venture Intelligence

Mumbai: Private equity (PE) investments in India touched a four-year high this year, with PE funds investing $10.9 billion across 436 deals, said a report released by Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on private company financials, transactions and valuations.

According to the report, the surge was led by mega deals in online services companies, especially e-commerce firm, which accounted for almost $4.1 billion (across 106 deals) or 37.6% of the investment during the year.

In 2013, PE investors committed a total of $7.4 billion across 433 deals with only one e-commerce firm—Flipkart, featuring among the top 10 investments.

Including Flipkart’s two rounds—of $200 million and $160 million—online services companies had raised $786 million across 86 deals or less than 11% of the PE investment in 2013.

Some of the top investments this year in sectors other than e-commerce included a Rs.2,000 crore (about $323 million) investment in L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Ltd in February this year.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and Oman’s sovereign wealth fund State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) jointly made that investment in the infrastructure development arm of publicly listed engineering firm Larsen & Toubro.

The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry also witnessed two large transactions in 2014.

This included TPG’s acquisition of a 34.5% stake in Sutherland Global in October and the $260 million buyout of the Aditya Birla Group’s BPO unit Minacs by CX Partners and Capital Square Partners in January.

With 224 investments worth about $5.8 billion, information technology and IT-enabled services (IT & ITeS) companies accounted for over 50% of investments both in terms of value and volume of deals.

Companies in the healthcare and life sciences industry raised $874 million from private equity funds across 44 transactions. Pharmaceuticals firms accounted for six of the top investments during 2014.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.