Private Equity investments this calendar year could cross the historical high of 2007 as they have already touched $13 billion in nine months till September-end. September quarter saw 125 per cent rise in PE deal value against the year-ago quarter. On the other hand, merger and acquisition involving Indian companies dropped marginally, despite acquisition of Indian companies by foreign firms growing 36 per cent. As per the data from Venture Intelligence, private equity firms invested $13 billion across 504 transactions in the first nine months and with one more quarter to go it was just $1.7 billion lesser than the total investment in 2007.
PE firms invested a record $5,893 million across 177 deals in the September quarter and 38 per cent higher than the immediate previous quarter, which had witnessed $4,272 million being invested across 151 transactions. There were as many as 16 PE investments worth $100 million or more with seven over $200 million during Q3’15.
“While e-commerce is still attracting big ticket investments, funding was raÂther broad-based as other sectors too saw investments flowing in. Investments in energy companies show a return of confidence in the sector. It is likely that we may see all-time high PE investment this year,” said Arun Natarajan, CEO of Venture Intelligence.
Among e-commerce plaÂyers, Flipkart, Snapdeal and Ola raised $700 million, $500 million and $245 million respectively. Other internet companies that attracted $100 million rounds in Q3'15 included SaaÂvn.com, Pepperfry.com and Oyo Rooms.
