Private equity mergers and acquisition volumes targeted towards India have grown to $2.1 billion through 52 deals in 2008 so far compared to $893 million in the year-ago period, according to global financial data provider Dealogic.
"India is the most targeted nation in Asia (excluding Japan) for financial sponsor M&A buyouts in 2008 year-to-date, accounting for 36 per cent of the buyouts in the region, followed by China (28 per cent) and South Korea (21 per cent)," the report stated.
Buyouts by private equity investors this year account for 15 per cent of the total M&A deals in the country. This has increased 4 per cent from the same period last year.
The most significant PE deal in the country has been the $324 million buyout of 14 per cent stake in Akruti City by Citi Venture Capital International and American International Group this year.
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PE investments constitute eight per cent of the total global M&A volumes, while they account for 6 per cent of the deals in the US so far this year.
The average size of the PE deals in 2008 so far has been $49 million, against $27 million last year.
Interestingly, there has been a fall in the private equity investments this year in developed nations like the US, the UK, Japan and Germany as against the same period last year.
In the US, PE deal volumes have fallen 85 per cent to 24.3 billion dollars in 2008 year-to-date against $157.1 billion in the same period last year. While the decrease in the UK, Germany and Japan have been 60 per cent, 52 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, the report showed.