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Jan-March PE investments gallop by 36% to $5.4 billion

Private equity firms invested about $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 $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 $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 $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).

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 $2.9 billion across 64 deals. Meanwhile, BFSI companies attracted $498 million across 17 PE investments, followed closely by healthcare and life sciences companies which attracted $496 million, the report added.
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