Private Equity Investments in India – June 2008

The month of June 2008 witnessed private equity investment of approximately USD 1,117.38 million across 33 deals. In terms of number of deals, June 2008 recorded a 37 percent growth in comparison to May 2008. However, if we consider the deal size of disclosed transactions, June 2008 recorded a 25 percent fall in comparison to May 2008. Sector-wise, IT/ITES led the way in number of deals (seven), followed by financial services (six), manufacturing (four), media and entertainment (four), retail (two), real estate (two) and one each for education, healthcare, logistics, food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, textiles, engineering procurement construction (EPC) and mechanical electrical and plumbing (MPC) services during the month. The diagram below depicts the same.

In terms of capital invested, retail claimed the top spot with USD 300 million followed by media & entertainment (USD 269.75 million), financial services (USD 228.1 million), real estate (USD 87.5 million), MPC (USD 50 million), logistics (USD 28.11 million), IT/ITES (USD 27.5 million), textiles (USD 25.8 million), manufacturing (USD 22 million), pharmaceuticals (USD 21 million), EPC (USD 20 million), telecom (USD 19 million), food & beverages (USD 15 million), education (USD 2.5 million) and healthcare (USD 1.12 million) during the month. The diagram mentioned below depicts the same.

The average deal size was USD 33.86 million nearly half of the USD 62.24 million average investment in May 2008. Off the 33 deals, only three recorded USD 100 million plus investments while five were between USD 50-100 million. Interestingly, 16 deals (48 percent) were below USD 15 million.

On the India-dedicated fund raising front, private equity firms announced new funds to the tune of USD 4,445 million. The new announcements were led by IDFC Private Equity which announced the launch of a USD 2,000 million infrastructure-focussed fund. India’s first regulated entertainment venture capital fund, ‘Cinema Capital Venture Fund’, with a corpus of USD 150-175 million was launched to fund companies involved in the entertainment space. Another first was the ‘India Rizing Fund’, a USD 100 million fund, dedicated to investing in defense-specific SMEs. IFCI launched the USD 82.5 million ‘Green India Venture Fund (GIVF)’ targeting Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) energy efficient projects. With a majority of the new funds in the sub-USD 200 million category, it is expected that average deal sizes will remain in the sub-USD 50 million bracket in the next few months.

Investments

a) IT/ITES

The IT/ITES sector recorded seven deals, including two undisclosed investments, totalling to a cumulative of USD 27.5 million. IT/ITES investments include SatNav, a GPS navigation software maker; Fin-e-ssential Infotech, an online tax filing company; Brandscape Worldwide, a data mining and data analytics firm; CtrlS, a tier-IV data centre firm; Jivox Software, an online video advertising platform and Miles, a financial software developer for wealth managers. Interestingly, the IT space did not receive any investments in May 2008.

b) Financial Services

Financial Services space was the second most preferred investment destination in June 2008 with six deals, including one deal with undisclosed investment, totalling USD 228.1 million. The non-banking finance companies (NBFC) led the way with Newbridge investing USD 150 million for a 49 percent stake in an undisclosed company which will in turn hold 100 percent equity in Shriram City Union Finance, a consumer finance company.  The other NBFC deals include Baring Asia’s USD 60 million fund infusion in Sharekhan and Hudson and Sequoia’s USD 11.7 million investment in MAGFIL. An interesting development in June was the investment by Sasken in OmniCapital. Sasken will now be a limited partner (LP) in the venture capital fund.

c) Manufacturing Sector

Manufacturing accounted for four deals totalling an estimated USD 22 million. Mid sized companies such as Polycab and Shakti Pumps which are industry leaders in their respective domains were attractive investments.

d) Media & Entertainment

Private equity firms inducted an estimated USD 269.75 million into the M&E sector. The investee firms include outdoor advertising major, Laqshya and PVR Pictures, a film exhibition company. The biggest deal in this space was by DE Shaw which invested USD 157.5 million in International Amusement that plans to construct an amusement park in Jaipur.

e) Telecom

Investments in the telecom space clearly showcased that mobile value added services (VAS) are the next growth drivers in the vertical. Paymate, a mobile payment service received its second round of funding from Mayfield, Kleiner Perkins and Sherpalo.

f) Retail

The retail boom in India is an attractive proposition for private equity firms evident from the USD 300 million invested across two deals.  Reid & Taylor along with Devyani International will utilise the funds for expanding their respective businesses across India.

g) Real Estate

Real Estate, the biggest gainer of private equity investments in 2008, managed just two deals worth a cumulative USD 87.5 million. The highlight was Axis Bank making a private equity investment even though Axis has a separate private equity division. Private equity real estate funds are increasingly focussing on project specific deals wherein investments are made in standalone projects rather than in real estate companies.

h) Other Sectors

Private equity firms also made investments in sectors like education, logistics, food & beverages and textiles among others. The education space has witnessed sparse investments in the first six months of 2008, with three deals in the first first six months, whereas the logistics sector has received investments across nine companies in the same period. Newly raised funds are eyeing investments across various verticals including education and logistics suggesting higher volume of deals in the next few months.

Fund Raising

Private equity investments in June 2008 slowed down considerably compared to the first quarter of 2008 but fund raising has remained robust suggesting a huge pipeline of deals for the next few months. A majority of the new funds announced in June 2008 will invest in growth stage and late stage companies. Going forward, infrastructure and real estate firms are expected to remain favourites of private equity players. Cleantech investments are expected to pick up in the future whilst the IT/ITES sector is expected to receive a continuous stream of investments.