India's PE Investments in 2018 is Highest Ever at $33 Billion

Private Equity (PE) investments in India rose to their highest ever figure of $33.1 billion in 2018, according to data from Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on private company financials.

According to the research firm, PE investments had already surpassed the previous high - $24.3 Billion across 734 deals in 2017 – in the first nine months of 2018, big ticket investments in Swiggy and Byju's towards the end of the year catapulted the year’s investment tally by 36% year-on-year.

The year 2018 witnessed 81 PE investments worth $100 million or more (accounting for 77% of the total investment value during the period), compared to 47 such transactions in 2017. Of these, 40 were larger than $200 million each (by themselves accounting for 60% of the total value) - compared to 30 such investments in the year ago period, the note from Venture Intelligence said.

Led by the $1 Billion investments in Swiggy from South Africa-based Naspers and others and Oyo (led by SoftBank, IT & ITeS companies accounted for 32% of the PE investment pie in 2018 (attracting $10.6 Billion across 383 deals). Food delivery app maker Swiggy had started the year with a $100 million investment led by Naspers, followed it up with mid-year $210 million raise (co-led by Naspers and DST Global) and polished the year off with a $1 Billion investment (led by Naspers and Tencent). Hotel chain Oyo raised $800 million (with an additional commitment for $200 million) led by SoftBank Vision Fund. Paytm raised $445 million from SoftBank and Alibaba for its E-commerce business, Paytm Mall and $356 million from Berkshire Hathaway at the parent company (One 97 Communications) level.

Other large ticket IT & ITeS investments in 2018 included the $300 million attracted by online payment gateway service BillDesk from Temasek and others; the $236 million raise by online insurance broker PolicyBazaar (led by SoftBank) and the $410 million (across two rounds) raised by Swiggy competitor Zomato. Other notable tech companies that attracted rounds of $100 million or more during the year included payments enabler Pine Labs, event ticketing service Bookmyshow, regional language social app ShareChat, music service Gaana.com and fantasy gaming startup Dream11, said Venture Intelligence.

Financials Services companies, led by the HDFC and Star Health Insurance, attracted 72 investments worth $5.9 Billion and included 17 deals of $100 million or more.

“The mid-year Walmart-Flipkart deal clearly re-energized international investors’ appetite for mega bets in Indian Internet & Mobile companies. This has helped offset the slowdown in investments in sectors like Financial Services, Manufacturing and Infrastructure towards the year end triggered by nervousness in the public markets and the IL&FS scare,” said Arun Natarajan, Founder of Venture Intelligence. “Whether the PE investment tally of 2019 can outdo the highs of 2018 seems set to hinge substantially on Global Economic trends in the New Year and the outcome of the upcoming National Elections,” he added.

According to an another report by Venture Intelligence in October, Japanese multinational telecommunications and Internet corporation, SoftBank has alone contributed over USD 4 billion of the investment value or 24% of the total PE investments in the first nine months of year-2018.

In September quarter of last year, the private equity & venture capital (PE/VC) investments in Indian startup ecosystem reached a whopping $8.7 billion, according to a report by research company Ernst and Young (EY). The figure at that time was significantly higher than what was recorded for the same period of year 2016.

In July-September 2017 quarter, Indian startups witnessed a total of nine $200-million-plus deals, with SoftBank’s $2.5 billion investment in Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart being the largest PE investment ever recorded in the Indian subcontinent.

Source - Economic Times

PE investments fall to $14.60 Bn in Jan-Sep 2018

In first nine months, January-September, of 2018 the Private Equity (PE) investments has fallen down to US $14.60 billion from lat year's $15.60 billion of same period, according to Grant Thornton's latest PE Dealtracker report.

The decline is a result of macroeconomic concerns, market volatility and valuations of companies, said the report. Besides these factors, private equity investors are also turning cautious due to falling prices of rupee against the US dollar and touching its all-time low amid an investors exodus from the emerging markets.

During the January-September period of 2018, a total of 621 PE deals worth $14.60 billion were reported as compared with $15.60 billion in the same period last year. On the other side, the July-September quarter saw a total of 217 PE deals worth $5.2 billion, an increase of 41% in terms of the number of deals, despite a drop in value by 28%, compared with the same period last year, the report added.

Telecom, e-commerce, manufacturing, energy, agriculture banking and IT sectors led the deal activity, capturing 85% of the total deal value. Startups had a share of 46% of the total investment volumes. Financial technology also attracted significant attention from investors with 20 deals, followed by retail and health tech segments. “The environment for private equity market has been sluggish due to concerns like the economy, market volatility and valuations, among other things,” said Prashant Mehra, Partner, Grant Thornton India LLP, in the report.

Some of the other top deals during the third quarter include ADIA and TPG Capital's investment in UPL Corp, KKR's investment in REEL, Udaan's series C funding for USD 225 million, the report said adding that Curefit raising USD 120 million marks the biggest ever fund raise by an Indian healthcare startup.

In September quarter of last year, the private equity & venture capital (PE/VC) investments in Indian startup ecosystem reached a whopping $8.7 billion, according to a report by research company Ernst and Young (EY). The figure at that time was significantly higher than what was recorded for the same period of year 2016.

In total, Indian startups witnessed a total of nine $200-million-plus deals in the July-September 2017 quarter, with SoftBank’s $2.5 billion investment in Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart being the largest PE investment ever recorded in the Indian subcontinent.

An another report by research firm Venture Intelligence, the first nine months (July-September) of 2017 had saw private equity firms investing about a whopping US $17.6 billion in Indian firms, a figure which is already past the previous record of USD 17.3 billion in the year 2015.

Source - Financial Express

Softbank Contributes Nearly 24% To India's PE Investments Till Date

With almost nine months down on the calendar of 2017, transaction research firm Venture Intelligence decided to evaluate the progress of private equity investments recorded in the country in the year so far and unearthed some interesting facts and figures.

The firm found out that, the first nine months of 2017 has seen private equity firms investing about a whopping USD 17.6 billion in Indian firms, a figure which is already past the previous record of USD 17.3 billion in the year 2015.

Divulging details about the sizes of the deals witnessed, the firm revealed that, in the nine months that have passed since the year starting, India has seen as many as 21 investments over USD 200 million in addition to 15 deals between USD 100 million and USD 200 million.

One of the most interesting facts highlighted by Venture Intelligence is that, Japanese multinational telecommunications and Internet corporation, SoftBank has alone contributed over USD 4 billion of the investment value or 24 per cent of the total amount in the year gone by so far.

The investments which helped the Japanese major achieve this feat include a USD 2.5 billion investment in Indian e-commerce giant, Flipkart; a USD 1.4 billion investment in Indian mobile wallet giant, Paytm; and a USD 250 million investment in Indian-origin hotel room aggregator website, Oyo.

Interestingly, at 402, the number of deals witnessed so far in the year are 23 per cent lower than what was recorded during the same period last year.

Coming to the latest quarter, July-September, about 106 private equity deals took place this time garnering about USD 5.7 billion. This means, the quarter was the second best quarter in the year gone by so far, only behind Jan–Mar 2017, which saw 163 deals going through that churned out a whopping USD 6.4 billion.

In what could be considered as an encouraging figure for the Indian startup scene, the latest quarter saw 13 investments above USD 100 million going through as compared to 10 in the same period last year.

While SoftBank’s USD 2.5 billion investment in Flipkart was the largest investment that took place in the quarter, the other investments that made headlines were made for by BFSI companies- General Atlantic’s USD 240 million buyout of investor services firm Karvy Computershare; Carlyle’s USD 300 million into SBI Cards and the USD 260 million raised by RBL Bank.

Last year saw the Indian startup industry going through a sluggish period when it came to the number of investment deals taking place. The Indian startup industry, which was once the apple of every investor's eye saw experienced investors tightening heir pursue strings and taking much longer than before concluding transactions. But, the latest figures made available by Venture Intelligence show that the industry is bouncing back and how.

This development was first reported in MoneyControl.

India Quarterly Deals Report Q1 2017 - PE Investments Worst Low in 17 Quarters

News Corp VCCEdge, India’s leading publisher of alternative investment, deals and startup news, data and information and part of globally diversified media, education and information services group, News Corp, has today released its India Quarterly Deals report for Q1 CY2017.

Capturing funding deal activities encompassing private equity, venture capital, angel/seed investment transactions for the seventeen quarters ending March 2017, the report also offers information on mergers and acquisitions with sector and region-wise analysis.

Highlights of the News Corp VCCEdge India Quarterly Deals report

PE Investments see a sober start to the year

• 238 deals worth $3.04 bn in Q1, CY2017 vis-à-vis 432 deals worth $4.19 bn in Q1, CY2016



• Median deal value quadrupled to $2.25 mn for Q1, 2017 compared to $0.6 mn in Q1, 2016



• Angel investments at a 4-year low at $28 mn with VC investments dropping by 14% Y-o-Y



• The top PE deal for the quarter was the Bharti Infratel – KKR, CPPIB deal which at $946 mn pushed up the average deal value

Fund infusion sees better times though investors tread cautiously

• Investment values doubled against last quarter to $820 mn for Q1 CY2017, though this was a fraction of the $2,500 mn for Q1 CY2016



• There were no fresh investments of $250 mn or more from investors, this quarter



• The top 4 fund infusions involving Oman India Joint Investment Fund II, KKR India Credit Fund, ICICI Venture Fund Management’s India Advantage Fund Series IV and IDFC Private Equity Fund IV captured a major share of total funds at $641 mn

Ominous times for PE funds as exit values fall

Y-o-Y, the situation seems grim with exits having fallen to $1.4 bn for Q1 CY2017 vis-à-vis $2.1 bn for the same quarter last year

Open markets dominated exit deal values at $945 mn, bouncing back as the preferred exit route

Key exits recorded for the quarter were the Providence Equity Partners-Idea Cellular deal and the Khazanah Nasional Berhad-Apollo Hospitals deal

Delhi NCR continues to rule the roost

At $1,246 mn, Delhi saw more action this quarter than Mumbai ($692 mn) and Bangalore ($441 mn) put together

Information Technology continued to dominate the space in Delhi NCR with 29 deals in the sector followed by 9 deals in Consumer Discretionary and 4 each in Consumer Staples and Industrials

Coming second in terms of deal value was Mumbai with 47 deals amounting to $692 mn, with Information Technology leading the way with 23 deals followed by Consumer Discretionary with 7 deals and Financials at 6 deals

Bengaluru registered 53 deals amounting to $441 mn with close to 60% being in the Information Technology space and ~19% in the Consumer Discretionary space. Pune with 8 deals to the tune of $62 mn and Hyderabad with 18 deals amounting to $32 mn made it to the top-5 investment destinations of India

Vodafone-Idea deal dominates M&A space

• M&A deal numbers came in at 226 as opposed to 237 for the last quarter, with the trend of a few large deals contributing to the total value continuing



• Of the total of $16 bn deal value for Q1 CY2017, the Vodafone-Idea deal saw a majority deal value of $12.4 bn



• Low median value across deals in the past 5 quarters vis-à-vis higher average deal values indicate a larger number of small ticket transactions in the space



• The Electronic Components space saw 3 deals followed by Wireless Telecommunications and Pharmaceuticals at 2 each

Sharing her views on the India Quarterly Deals report, Nita Kapoor, Head India – New Ventures, News Corp and CEO, News Corp VCCircle said, "PE sentiment seems to be extremely cautious and this is clearly reflecting in market performance. Appetite for risk is low with consolidation, job cuts and rollback of funding plans underway. A dip of 22% in deal values with simultaneous decline in exit figures is worrisome, though these are early days and a bounce back is possible, if not probable in the immediate future."

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