Private Equity (PE) firms invested about $2,249 million or $2.249 billion across 98 deals during the quarter ended September 2011, according to a study by Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on Private Equity and M&A transaction activity in the country.
The latest figures take the total PE investments in the first nine months of 2011 to about $8,570 million or $8.57 billion (across 317 transactions), significantly higher compared to the about $6,400 million or $6.4 billion (across 270 transactions) in the same period last year. Also, the value of PE investments year-to-date in 2011 has already surpassed $8.25 billion invested (across 358 transactions) in 2010, the Venture Intelligence study showed. These figures exclude PE investments in the real estate sector, the study added.
The PE investment amount during Q32011 was lower than that during the same period last year (which witnessed $2,357 million being invested across 111 deals) and also compared to the immediate previous quarter ($2,911 million across 122 deals). The median investment value in Q32011, at $10 million, was however higher than both the year-ago period ($9 million) and the immediate previous quarter ($8 million).
There were five PE investments worth over $100 million during Q32011, with three of them over $200 million. Some of the largest investments during the period included The Blackstone group-owned Sithe Global Power?s $261 million investment in SKS Chhattisgarh Power Generation; Blackstone?s direct R500 crore ($111 million) investment in Visa Power and Goldman Sachs? R1,000 crore commitment to ReNew Wind Power.
Powered by these mega deals, the energy industry emerged as the favourite destination for PE capital (in terms of investment amount) during Q32011, attracting $823 million across 16 transactions. IT & ITES companies came in next attracting $437 million across 29 transactions. The largest deal in the IT & ITES industry was mobile advertising network InMobi?s $200-million investment from SoftBank. This was followed by the around $40 million raised by online group buying service Snapdeal.com from Bessemer Ventures with participation from existing investors IndoUS Ventures and Nexus Ventures. Blackstone invested about $33 million in financial inclusion-focused tech firm FINO.
Interest in infrastructure services firm operating in the roads and water projects helped the engineering & construction industry attract $279 million across 8 investments across companies like Soma Enterprise and GVR Infra Projects.