BackPE investments touch $7.7 billion: Grant Thornton
389 PE transactions worth $7,698 million sealed in January-August, IT and ITES sector corners maximum deals
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New Delhi: Private equity (PE) deals worth $526 million were sealed in August, taking the tally to $7.7 billion for the first eight months this year, according to a global consultancy firm.
According to assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton’s latest Dealtracker, the volume of deals in the PE space increased in 2014 and the IT (information technology) and ITES (IT-enablesd services) sector cornered the maximum number of deals. There has been a significant uptrend this year both in terms of number and value of deals; 389 PE transactions worth $7,698 million were sealed. During January-August in 2013, there were 286 PE deals worth $7,408 million.
“PE volume has shown a significant uptrend YTD (year-to-date) 2014 as against previous years with 15 deals of over $100 million each," said the report.
E-commerce continued to dominate the PE space in August as well. July had witnessed the landmark deal of $1 billion investment into Flipkart.
The momentum continued in August as well when the IT and ITeS sector witnessed 20 transactions worth $214 million.
“Private equity is very strong in the e-commerce and dot com space and we will see more of that in the coming months," Grant Thornton India LLP partner Harish H.V. said. Pharma, healthcare and biotech attracted six deals worth $23 million, followed by real estate which witnessed four deals worth $82 million and the retail and consumer sector witnessed three transactions worth $93 million.
Major PE deals during August included Hike, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and SoftBank Corp., raising $65 million. The funding was led by Tiger Global, a New York-based investment firm.
Two other major deals included realty firm Supertech raising $65 million from PE firm Xander to finance its upcoming township and housing projects in Gurgaon, and online food ordering platform foodpanda raising $60 million from Falcon Edge Capital and Rocket Internet AG.
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