Infra sector received 40% of funds
Private Equity (PE) investments in India was highest ever at US$37 billion in 2019 across 861 transactions, according to data from Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on private company financials, transactions and their valuations. (Note: These figures include Venture Capital investments but exclude PE investments in Real Estate.)
Riding on the back of large ticket Infrastructure sector deals, PE investments in 2019 edged past the previous high of US$36 billion across 937 investments in 2018 during which, mega deals in the Tech Sector – especially E-Commerce, had dominated the headlines.
2019 witnessed 74 PE investments worth US$100 million or more accounting for 74% of the total investment value during the period.
Of these, 40 were larger than US$200 million each, with 5 investments over US$1 billion, the Venture Intelligence data shows.
Top Private Equity Investments as per Company Sector, Investor(s), Amount (US$M):
Reliance Tower Infra, Telecom Infra, Brookfield US$3,660m
Reliance Pipeline Infra, Natural Gas Pipeline, Brookfield US$1,875m
GMR Airports, Airports, SSG Capital, GIC, Others US$1,143m
GVK Airports, Airports, NIIF, ADIA, PSP Investments, US$1,075m
PayTM Payments, Alibaba, SoftBank Corp, Others, US$1,000m,
CitiusTech, Enterprise Software – Healthcare, Baring Asia, US$880m
NIIT Technologies IT Services (GIS), Baring Asia, US$872m
Bharti Airtel, Mobile Network Operator, GIC, US$715m
NHAI TOT Bundle III, Roads, I Squared Capital, IFC, US$700m
SBI Life Insurance Company, Insurance, Carlyle, US$653m
(Source: Venture Intelligence Get the data Created with Datawrapper).
By Industry: Infrastructure related industries accounted for 40% of the PE investment pie in 2019 (attracting US$14.7 billion across 74 deals) compared to 20% share in 2018 (US$7.8 billion across 83 deals).
Energy industry deals, led by Brookfield’s US$1.9 billion investment in Reliance Pipeline Infra, accounted for 26 investments worth US$4.9 billion in 2019, compared to US$3.2 billion (across 31 deals) in 2018.
The RIL – Brookfield partnership also extended into Telecom, with the Canadian investor agreeing to invest almost US$3.7 billion (Rs.25,215 crore) in a special purpose vehicle that will acquire a controlling stake in Reliance Jio’s tower infrastructure company.
The Airport development arms of the Hyderabad-based GMR and GVK groups also attracted significant capital during the year.
Topped by a new US$1 billion investment in Fintech leader Paytm (led by US-based T Rowe Price), IT & ITeS companies accounted for 32% of the PE investment pie in 2019 (attracting US$11.8 billion across 493 deals), compared to US$10.9 billion (across 482 deals) in 2018.
The year saw 9 new Unicorn companies being minted: Delhivery, Dream11, BigBasket, Rivigo, Druva Software, Icertis, Citius Tech, Ola Electric and Lenskart, according to the Venture Intelligence Unicorn Tracker.
“The fact that the PE investment tally of 2019 outdid the previous high of 2018, despite uncertainties on the Economic, Political and Global Trade fronts, is very encouraging,” remarked Arun Natarajan, Founder of Venture Intelligence.
“The sheer diversity of investors that are now actively investing in India, by geography (including North America, Asia and Middle East) as well as sector preferences, provides scope for optimism that the momentum will be maintained into the New Year,” he said in a report released 28 Dec 2019.
Venture Intelligence is India’s longest serving provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India. fiinews.com
