Jan 2, 2007
Chennai, India
 

Arun Natarajan
CEO
Tel: +91-44-45534303
Email: arun@ventureintelligence.in

Private Equity firms invest $7.5 billion in India during 2006 

Chennai, India: Private Equity firms invested a record $7,460 million over 299 deals in India during 2006, according to a study by Venture Intelligence , ( http://www.ventureintelligence.in ), a research service focused on Private Equity and Venture Capital. The latest quarter ended December 2006 witnessed PE firms investing $2,559 million across 67 deals, the study revealed. (These figures do not include PE investments in Real Estate.)). 

Total investments by "The amount invested during 2006 was well over three times that during the previous year, which itself was a record one", said Arun Natarajan, Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence. Mega deals like Idea Cellular’s pre-IPO placement and the KKR-Flextronics Software buyout contributed significantly to the total. The year witnessed several large global PE firms - with appetite for large deals - making their first investments in India. There were 26 deals involving investments of over $50 million during 2006 compared to just nine such deals in the previous year, the Venture Intelligence research showed.

"Private Equity firms are boldly creating innovative partnerships with entrepreneurs to take corporate India to new levels. I will not be surprised if the investment amount in 2007 touches $10 billion, said K.E.C. Raja Kumar, CEO of leading Bangalore-based PE firm, UTI Venture Funds. However, going forward, we have to be careful to ensure that this momentum is sustainable and does not get derailed by unrealistic expectations".

Information Technology and IT-Enabled Services (IT & ITES) continued to remain the favorite industry among PE investors during 2006 accounting for $1,470 million across 87 investments, the Venture Intelligence study revealed. The manufacturing industry followed attracting 55 investments worth $962 million. Other industries that attracted significant PE investor attention during the year included BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance), Healthcare & Life Sciences and Engineering & Construction. Late-stage investments accounted for 36% of all deals while PIPEs (PE investments in listed companies) accounted for 22% of the deals. Early-stage investments accounted for about 20% of deals during the 2006, the Venture Intelligence study showed.  

About Venture Intelligence India

Venture Intelligence India, a division of Chennai, India-based TSJ Media Pvt. Ltd., is the leading source of information on private equity and venture capital in India and Indian-founded companies worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.ventureintelligence.in