India Inc strikes 113 PE deals for $2.1 bn in July-Sept qtr

Indian companies signed as many as 113 private equity deals totalling USD 2.10 billion during the July-September quarter, taking total value of such deals so far in 2013 to USD 8.13 billion.

Showing an uptick in the deal-making activities, the total value of PE deals in the first nine months of 2013 has risen by 34 per cent from USD 6.05 billion in the same period of 2012, as per a report by Grant Thornton.

The global assurance, tax and advisory firm feels the deal momentum will continue further in the coming months.

"Private equity deal value has increased by 34 per cent in year-to-date 2013 over year-to-date 2012, driven by majority stake deals by the larger PE Funds like Baring PE's buy-out of Hexaware, KKR's acquisition of ATG Tyres and Blackstone's acquisition of Agile Electric," Grant Thornton India LLP Transaction Advisory Services Partner Raja Lahiri said.

"We expect this increasing trend of PE Fund buy-outs to continue going forward," he added.

A sector-wise analysis shows that IT and ITeS dominated the PE deal activity space with 38 per cent share of the total deal pie, followed by banking and financial services segment (18 per cent), real estate (9 per cent) and manufacturing (5 per cent).

Baring PE's investment of USD 400 million in Hexaware Technologies for a 41.8 per cent stake was one of the biggest deal of the quarter ended September 30, 2013.

Other major PE deals announced during the quarter include e-commerce major Flipkart raising USD 200 million from its existing investors, including Naspers, Accel and Tiger Global.

TPG Capital's 23 per cent stake acquisition in Shriram City Union for USD 194 million was the other major deal, and Blackstone's USD 110 million investment in Agile Electric and Softbank's USD 75 million investment in Jasper Infotech were among the other major PE deals.