India attracts $3 b PE investment in H1 2009

PE investments have already shown reasonable growth in the second quarter of 2009 compared to the previous quarter. Besides, the second quarter of 2009 has indicated several signs of recovery in the economy, which have led to an increase in the interest in M&A and PE, the report said.

The total number of PE deals announced during the first half of 2009 stood at 93 with a total announced value of US$2.89 billion, it said.

Though this year’s PE deal value for the first half of 2009 represented a 58 per  cent drop over the corresponding period of previous year, but still there are visible signs of recovery as the deal volume in second quarter of 2009 is showing signs of improvement when compared with the previous quarter, the report said.

Bright prospects
Going forward, the investment prospects in this segment look bright as more than 74 per cent of private equity respondents believed that non-cyclical sectors such as healthcare, including pharmaceuticals, hospitals, diagnostic centres and services would drive PE deals over the next 12 months, the report said.

The reason behind this uptrend is that the improvement in sentiments and positive initiatives from the government was backed by real statistics of good quarterly performance Indian corporates and more importantly in several core sectors such as coal, cement and steel among others which have posted growth in revenues and profitability, it said.

Shipping & ports
The highest proportion of PE/VC investment in terms of announced value in the first half of this year was made in the real estate and infrastructure management, shipping and ports and telecom sectors with an investment of US$1.61 billion, US$161 million and US$129 million respectively.

Together, the three segments accounted for over 66 per cent of PE investment made in India during H1 2009.

The top five PE deals accounted for more than 43 per cent of the total PE deal value in H1 2009.