PE deals double in H2, valued at $13.62bn

Notwithstanding the sub-prime crisis in the US, private equity deals have grown faster in the second half of the calendar year with global biggies Goldman Sachs sealing five deals, followed by Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley with three each in September and October this year.

According to Grant Thornton's dealtracker, 207 PE deals valued at $7.46 billion were announced during the first six months of 2007.

The total deal value has nearly doubled in the last four months, with the number of PE deals increasing to 336, valued at $13.62 billion, during the first 10 months of the year.

"Large funds who want to make significant investments in India are coming here. The sub-prime crisis in the US has impacted the share price of the big Wall Street firms but has not led to diminished interest from them in the India growth story," said C G Srividya, partner, corporate advisory services, Grant Thornton India.

Valuations are keyed to the stock markets and are better than last year, she added. In fact, in the first 10 months of 2007, there were 69 PE deals with an announced valued of about $2.80 billion.

The largest investment was in the real estate and infrastructure sectors with an announced value of $1.16 billion followed by the power and energy sector and banking and financial services sector with an announced value $410 million and $300 million respectively.

These three sectors together accounted for around 67 per cent of the total private equity investment made in September and October 2007.