PE investments in Jan-Mar this year rise 20% to $2,646 mn

Private equity (PE) firms have invested about USD 2,646 million spread across 124 deals during the quarter ended March 2015, clocking a growth of 20 percent over the corresponding period last year, says a report.

According to early data from Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on private company financials, transactions and their valuations, the investment in the said quarter registered a year-on-year jump, but declined on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

The figure is 20 percent higher than the same period last year when USD 2,212 million were invested across 132 transactions, but 36 percent lower than the immediate previous quarter, which saw USD 4,120 million pumped in through 112 deals.

There were six PE investments worth USD 100 million or more during the first quarter of 2015 as compared to four in the year-ago period.

The largest investment was IFC's USD 260 million commitment to microfinancier-turned-bank licence holder Bandhan Financial Services. Another microfinance firm, Ujjivan Financial Services, saw USD 100 million investment from a clutch of investors, including CDC Group, IFC and CX Partners.

Two large hospital operators -- Manipal Health Enterprises and Medanta Medicity -- attracted over USD 100 million. While Manipal pouched Rs 900 crore from TPG Capital, Medanta attracted Rs 700 crore from Temasek (via a secondary purchase from Punj Lloyd).

The largest e-commerce deal reported in the first quarter of this year was the USD 100 million raised by ShopClues.com in the fourth round led by Tiger Global, a key investor in rival Flipkart.

Meanwhile, some interest is back in the power sector, with IDFC Alternatives committing USD 81 million to an SPV (special purpose vehicle) of Diligent Power and Actis announcing an SPV of its own -- Ostro Energy - to focus on renewable power projects.

A sector-wise analysis shows that the IT & ITeS companies accounted for 32 percent of the value pie - cobbling up USD 836 million across 71 deals - during the March quarter.

BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) firms came in close at 31 percent, attracting USD 816 million spread over 12 deals.

They were followed by healthcare and life-sciences firms with USD 392 million across nine transactions and energy companies with USD 207 million across six deals. All figures in this note are exclusive of PE investments in real estate.