The top 20 private equity investors in the country have invested $5.4 billion over 551 deals in the past 15 years. Leading the pack are Warburg Pincus (80 deals worth $1.1 billion), ICICI Venture Funds (158 deals worth $542 million) and Carlyle (21 deals worth $510.8 million).
In terms of number of deals, India’s largest PE fund ICICI Venture has struck the highest number of deals, followed by Warburg Pincus, IL&FS Investment Managers and Intel Capital, according to data compiled by research outfit Thomson Financial.
This data do not, however, include the recent investments made by buyout fund Blackstone in Intelenet ($109 million), Eenadu group ($275 million), Nagarjuna Construction ($150 million) and Gokaldas Exports ($165 million). If these figures are added, it will put Blackstone among the top three PE investors in the country and take the cumulative investments by the top 20 PE majors to beyond $6 billion.
“The bulk of the PE deals in India have been struck in the last two to three years. Though number of deals struck by Indian funds has been higher, foreign funds have also become prolific and are cutting more deals now,” said Carlyle India MD Rajeev Gupta.
Among the foreign funds, Warburg Pincus was the first to start making investments in India and has struck the maximum deals. The fund bought stake in UTV Software Communications for $2.4 million in October 1996.
While Intel Capital and Actis made their first investments in India in 1998, Morgan Stanley’s first investment was in the year 1999. PE funds JP Morgan and Carlyle began investing in India during the tech-boom in 2000.
IDFC private equity, Actis, IL&FS Investment Managers, Citigroup Venture Capital, Singtel Ventures, Morgan Stanley Private Equity and ChrysCapital Management are the other funds in the top 10 by value of investments in India.
Though the period taken in the data has been the past 15 years, experts agree the bulk of PE investments in India were in two tranches — one during the internet boom when most investments were in tech-related companies and the other in the last two years due to the current economic boom.
Interestingly, the oldest recorded PE deal has been struck by ICICI Venture in October 1991. The fund bought stake in Hyderabad-based contract research and testing organisation Vimta Labs for $14,000.
“Though PE investments from foreign funds have been flowing into India for a decade with Warburg Pincus being the first to start investing, the current economic boom has witnessed unprecedented flows. There is still a lot of money chasing deals in India and all sectors look attractive,” said Mahesh Chhabria, director, growth capital, 3i India.
In the last two years, there has been a huge flow of private equity funding into India. Thomson Financial data say in 2006, Indian companies received PE funding worth $1.6 billion and during January-July 2007, $2.49 billion worth of PE investments have been made.
Experts say with many buyout funds and global PE majors looking to get more exposure in India, the average deal size for the industry as a whole has risen. “The deal size has risen in the last one to two years and will continue to rise and number of deals struck will also reduce,” said India head of a global PE fund.
