PE deals pip M&A in value

PRIVATE EQUITY WATCH

The total value of PE deals has exceeded that of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the month of June, according to global accountancy firm Grant Thornton's Dealtracker report.

The value of PE deals during the month went up by $0.25 billion to $1.81 billion from $1.56 billion in May 2007, that of M&A deals decreased by $2.65 billion to $1.72 billion from $4.37 billion in May 2007. There were 36 PE deals and 63 M&A deals during the period.

The significant deals in the PE space included Avenue Capital group's 26 per cent stake buy in SKIL Infrastructure for $500 million, Goldman Sachs $300 million investment in Century Group and BNP Paribas's $180 million investment in SREI Infrastructure Finance for a 50 per cent stake.

Among the M&A deals, the most important ones were Rain Calcining's acquisition of CII Carbon and D S Construction buying the assets of Globeleq. 

WHAT'S HOT
Investors	Sector	Investment Value in mn $
NEA IndoUS Ventures	Aviation	5.00
Goldman Sachs	Banking & Financial Services	20.50
BNP Paribas	Banking & Financial Services	180.23
iLabs Private equity fund	IT & ITeS	9.77
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and its Indian affiliate NEA-IndoUS Ventures	IT & ITeS	25.00
The Carlyle Group through its arm Carlyle Asia Growth Capital Partners	IT & ITeS	10.30
General Atlantic (through its investment arm GA Global Investment) and Carrier International	IT & ITeS	75.00
Blackstone Group	IT & ITeS	200.00
Temasek Holdings	Logistics	25.12
CLSA Capital Partners	Manufacturing	20.30
Helion Venture Partners	Media, & Publishing	15.00
International Finance Corporation (IFC)	Pharma, Healthcare & Biotech	69.77
Citigroup Venture Capital International Growth Funds	Power, Energy  & Coke	58.14
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of World Bank	Power, Energy  & Coke	8.00
Trinity Capital	Real Estate & Infrastructure	13.77
Blue River Capital and Sequoia Capital	Real Estate & Infrastructure	35.00
Goldmansachs	Real Estate & Infrastructure	300.00
GIC	Real Estate & Infrastructure	105.50
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter		41.00
George Soros Fund		20.40
Avenue Capital Group	Real Estate & Infrastructure Management	500.00
Merrill Lynch's principal investment arm	Research	11.00
Helion Venture Partners	Research	10.00
Lehman Brothers and Spinnaker Investments	Telecom	30.00
Avigo Capital Partners	Textile & Apparels	5.00

There were 33 domestic deals (both acquirer and target being Indian) with a value of $0.13 billion and 30 cross-border deals worth $1.59 billion.

Twenty-four of the cross border deals were outbound (Indian companies acquiring businesses outside India) with a value of $1.58 billion and 6 were inbound (international firms or their subsidiaries acquiring Indian businesses) with a value of close to $ 0.01 billion.

Dhanraj Bhagat, partner, Grant Thornton said, ''Big ticket acquisitions are taking place only in cross-border transactions since the domestic market does not have many takeover targets. The PE and M&A deals are likely to grow in the next quarter as well. Deals have gone up in IT ITES, banking and financial services in the last two months. Consolidation is happening in broking business, either foreign firms may acquire Indian firms to get a presence in India or bigger brokerages may buy into smaller players to grow."