M&As drive private equity exits to $24 bn surpassing last year's $14.4 bn

PE exits have increased despite the currency fluctuation and current market conditions.

The  capital markets have been volatile over recent months and this has meant fewer Initial Public Offers (IPOs) of equity. Yet, exits by private equity (PE) investors have touched $24 billion (Rs1.7 trillion) this year, surpassing the $14.4 billion (Rs 1 trillion) of exits last year.

What is driving these? Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) or strategic buys, by the likes of Walmart, Teleperformance SA, Arrow Electronics and Ebix, followed by PE-to-PE secondary deals. At $15.35 billion, these accounted for 63 per cent of the deal value in 2018 till mid-November, compared to 23 per cent in 2017. Secondary deals accounted