Private equity investments down 23% to $10 bn in Jan-Oct: Thornton

Corporate India received Private Equity investments worth $1.82 billion in October, up 74% year-on-year, while the overall tally for first 10 months this year was 23% lower at $10.24 billion, says a report.

The assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton said there were 94 transactions worth $1.82 billion last month, as against 95 deals worth $1.04 billion a year ago.

The significant uptrend in PE-Deal value in October was on account of Brookfield's acquisition of Hiranandani Group offices and retail space in Powai valued at $1 billion which alone contributed to 55% of the deal values.

The overall PE-deal momentum in January-October was however at $10.24 billion, down 23% over the same period of last year.

"PE investor sentiments have kept them from betting big this year with a 23% y-o-y decline in investment values much in contrast to last year," the report said.

This year recorded only 20 investments valued at and above $100 million, as compared to 31 deals in the January-October period of 2015.

Sector-wise, in October PE/VC investments in startups exhibited significant traction and contributed 58% of total deal volumes.

Within this sector, the retail space continued to dominate PE/VC interest along with travel, transport & logistics and enterprise applications and infrastructure segments, the report said.

Other sectors such as real estate, transport & logistics and manufacturing also attracted large investments over $100 million during the month, it added.