Private Equity firms invested about $5.44 Billion across 117 deals during the quarter ended March 2017, according to early data from Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on private company financials, transactions and their valuations. The investment amount was 36% higher than the amount registered in Q1’16 (which had witnessed $4 Billion across 198 transactions) and 23% higher than the immediate previous quarter ($4.4 Billion across 179 transactions). The volume (or number) of investments was however lower by 41% compared to the year ago period and 35% lower compared to the previous quarter. (Note: These figures include Venture Capital investments, but exclude PE investments in Real Estate.)
Interestingly, almost $3.6 Billion - or 2/3rds of the total value of the investments during the period – were announced/reported in just March.
The latest quarter witnessed 11 PE investments worth $100 million or more compared to 12 such transactions in the same period last year and 8 during the immediate previous quarter. Many of the larger deals during Q1’17 involved secondary sales by either promoters or existing PE investors, the Venture Intelligence analysis showed. Telecom tower firm Bharti Infratel saw parent firm Bharti Airtel sell a 10.3% stake to KKR and Canadian pension fund CPPIB for almost $952 million. CPPIB also invested $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 $215 million sale to Temasek) and entered a new one (KIMS Group via a $200 million investment that gave an exit to Ascent Capital and OrbiMed).
IT &; ITeS companies accounted for 53% of the PE investment value pie in Q1’17 attracting almost $2.9 Billion across 64 transactions. The value of IT & ITeS investments in Q1’17 was up 106% from the $1.4 Billion across 115 deals in the same period in 2016. BFSI companies attracted $498 million across 17 PE investments, followed closely by Healthcare & Life Sciences companies which attracted $496 million across eight transactions.
