According to data compiled by research firm VCCEdge, the total private equity investments till September this year stood at USD 7.18 billion, while M&A activity for the first three quarters of 2010 reached at USD 45.1 billion.
In the month of September the total M&A deal value amounted to USD 11.7 billion. Though the M&A activity in September noticed a drop on a quarter-on-quarter basis, but has quadrupled from last year's level, the report said.
The most active sectors in terms of deal value was energy, which saw deals worth USD 4.6 billion, followed by healthcare (USD 1.8 billion) and industrials (USD 1.7 billion), and materials (USD 1.6 billion).
"Together they accounted for 85 per cent of the total deal value so far this year," the VCCEdge report said.An analysis of the M&A deals shows that outbound deals were the flavour of the quarter, as these deals witnessed a huge jump in terms of deal value at USD 4.39 billion, up nearly 17 times than last year.
The value of domestic deals almost doubled to USD 2.79 billion in September quarter, compared to last year, while the value of inbound deals stood at USD 3.16 billion, as against USD 0.97 billion in Q3 2009.
In the private equity segment for the quarter ended September 2010, the total announced deal value was USD 2.89 billion, an over two fold jump from the year ago period.
The deal count also went up to 109 deals from 77, in Q3 2009.The average private equity deal value for the September quarter stood at USD 38 million. Big ticket deals constituted 52 per cent of the total private equity capital invested in Q3 2010.
A sectoral breakdown shows financials were the most sought after sector, as it received an investment of USD 922 million, followed by utilities (USD 502 million) and Industries (USD 452 million).
Together these three accounted for 65 per cent of total private equity deal value during the quarter, VCCEdge added.