PE/VC investments touch $3bn in Nov driven by big ticket deals

Private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) investments touched $2.9 billion across 56 deals in November, driven by big ticket transactions and the momentum is likely to continue further, says an EY report.

According to the report, PE/VC investments touched $0.9 billion across 41 deals in November 2016.

Month-on-month, there was an increase of 40% in value while number of deals remained the same.

This increase in PE/VC investments was driven by high number of large value deals. November recorded 10 deals with value greater than $100 million (highest number for any given month ever) aggregating $2.3 billion.

So far this year, there were 54 large deals aggregating $18.2 billion mainly due to increasing exposure of big bracket pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and global buyout funds in India, the report said.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) with its $350 million investment in ReNew Power and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) investing USD 300 million in Cube Highways were among the top deals in November.

The report further said November recorded the highest value of exits ever for any given month, 25 exits worth $2.7 billion.

The largest open market exit was that of Qatar Foundation Endowment selling 5% stake in Bharti Airtel for $1.5 billion.

Moreover, there were two PE-backed IPO in November which saw Kedaara selling 13.6% stake in Mahindra Logistics for $65 million and Reliance Alternative Investment Fund selling 33% stake in Khadim for $68 million.

"As projected earlier, November has been a stellar month for investments as well as exits and we expect strong traction in December as well. 2017 has been the best year for Indian private equity," said Vivek Soni, Partner and Leader for Private Equity Services, EY.