PE investment activity in May halves to USD 904 mn

Private equity investment activity in India remained muted in the month of May as there were 43 deals worth USD 904 million, registering a decline of over 53 per cent over the corresponding period last year.
"PE has been a bit subdued but we expect significant uptick in that area also," Grant Thornton India LLP Partner Harish HV said.
According to assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton's latest Dealtracker, PE investments in May stood at USD 904 million (43 deals), while in the same period last year, there were 33 transactions worth USD 1,951 million.
The top deal of the month was DST Global led USD 210 million investment in Flipkart Private Ltd. The investment takes Flipkart's total fund raised to USD 780 million since its inception.

Meanwhile, PE deal investments have shown a steady growth in terms of volume. PE investment volume is much larger at 228 deals in the first five months of this year as against 172 deals in the January-May period of 2013.
In terms of deal volume, PE investments continues to increase, however the value is yet to match up to levels shown in previous years.

IT & ITEs outshone the other sectors with the E Commerce sphere doing well both in terms of strategic and financial investments.
"IT and ITES continue to dominate volumes and will do so whilst values will be driven by core sectors of the economy," he added.

Other major private equity deals of this month include, Warburg Pincus' 25 per cent stake acquisition in Laurus Labs Pvt Ltd for USD 150 million, followed by homegrown e-commerce giant Snapdeal which raised USD 100 million in a new round of funding from Temasek, BlackRock Inc, Myriad, Premji Invest and Tybourne.
International Finance Corporation, the private sector lending arm of the World Bank, picking up around 8 per cent stake in Religare Enterprises for USD 68 million was the other major PE deal during May.