PE investments see 67% growth in January-February: Grant Thornton

Riding on the back of big ticket spending, India-focused private equity (PE) investments witnessed a sharp growth of 67 per cent in the January-February period as compared to the same period last year. It saw four investments over $100-million, accounting for 33 per cent of the total PE value.

Pankaj Chopda, Director at Grant Thornton India, said, “The deal momentum for February continued to be positive. Mergers and acquisitions and PE segment witnessed 102 transactions and deals worth $3.2 billion, which is higher by 32 per cent and 66 per cent, respectively, as compared to February 2017.”

In February, PE investments witnessed a 2x growth in the investment values recording investments worth $1.3 billion on account of increased follow-up investment rounds. Compared to January, the month registered a healthy 35 per cent increase in the deal values despite a 26 per cent fall in the deal volumes, indicating increased average investment size.

Most of these investments took place in the energy and natural resources, real estate, IT&ITES, and start-up sectors. 

In line with the trends in the last four years, 2018 so far has been dominated by investments in start-ups which contributed to 47 per cent of total investment volumes garnering $278 million. On the other hand, e-commerce sector dominated the PE investment values with 27 per cent.