Pvt equity firms invest $5.4 billion

Private equity firms made $5.4 billion worth investments in the country during the first nine months of 2006 and could infuse capital worth $ 7 billion by year-end, according to a research by Venture Intelligence, a PE tracking firm.

Highlights of the July-September quarter include Olympus Capital's $100 million investment into Quatrro BPO Solutions, followed by Bank of Muscat and ICICI Ventures' $90.7 million investment in Centurion Bank of Punjab.

Among other major deals were ChrysCapital's $66 million investment in UTI Bank, Warburg Pincus' $66 million infusion into Aryan Coal Benefications and 3i's $65 million PE investment in Gujarat Pipavav Port.

Last quarter also saw venture capital investments against conventional fund raising instruments, getting prominence. A press release by Venture Intelligence said July-September quarter witnessed 100 venture capitalist deals amounting nearly to $ 1,894 million.

"The amount invested during the July-September quarter was 2.8 times than the same period last year and marginally higher than that during the April-June 2006 quarter," Venture Intelligence CEO Arun Natarajan said.

The study predicts that with opening of real estate sector, country could see higher venture capitalist investment this year.

"With the October-December quarter being a traditionally strong quarter for PE investments in India and with Real Estate investments being opened up further, we can expect to close the year with over $7 billion in investments," he added.

Information technology firms were on priority list of venture investors with this sector witnessing 32 deals worth $317 million, followed by manufacturing sector with 14 deals worth $ 289 million.

The investors also preferred to invest at early stage companies as these investments grew to 20 per cent against last quarter's 17 per cent.

The share of PE investments in late-stage (35 per cent ), growth-stage (15per cent), PIPEs (14per cent ) and buyouts (4 per cent) was similar against immediate quarter, the study showed.