April sees 23% jump in venture investments at $2.4 bn

There was a 23 per cent jump in venture investments in April at USD 2.4 billion, led by e-commerce, infrastructure and realty plays by funds, a report said today.

Investments by private equity and venture capital funds had stood at USD 1.9 billion in the year-ago period, the report by consultancy firm EY said.

The increase in activity was driven largely by a jump in deal sizes, it said, pointing out that going by the number of deals, there were 69 transactions this April as against 66 in the year-ago period.

"PE/VC deal activity in India continues to gather steam and become more robust. Both investments as well as exits are on an upward trend," EY's partner and leader for private equity advisory Vivek Soni said.

Commenting on the USD 16-billion stake buy in Flipkart by Walmart announced in May, he said the transaction will lead to a "re-rating" of the Indian startup space, inject new enthusiasm and inspire many entrepreneurs.

On the high-value investments, there were eight deals of value greater than USD 100 million in April 2018, aggregating USD 1.9 billion, compared to six deals worth USD 1.2 billion in the year-ago, it said, which included the USD 400 million investment by Softbank into Paytm Mall.

Infrastructure and realty have been among the leading sectors witnessing investments, it said, pointing out that the largest was a USD 185 million investment by Canadian pension fund CPPIB into Island Star Mall Developers.

From an exits perspective, there was a 47 per cent growth by value in 15 transactions at USD 1.2 billion, the EY report said, attributing it primarily to the USD 692 million sale of Ostro Energy to Re-New Power Ventures, a CPPIB backed company, by Actis.

On buyouts, there were three transactions worth USD 625 million in April, taking the 2018 total to USD 3.3 billion, which is 6 per cent more than what was recorded in entire 2017, it said.