Private equity deals rise 16% in July-Sept

Mumbai: Private equity deals jumped 16 per cent in the July-September quarter, driven by large deals like Bain Capital’s investment in Genpact at $1 billion, Flipkart’s fund raising of $150 million and Ashoka’s Concessions’ fund raise of $150 million.

Even as deal-making gathered momentum, the IT and ITES sector appear to have contributed 59 per cent of PE deal activity, mainly driven by the Genpact deal and deals in the e-commerce sector.

While the pharma, healthcare and biotech sectors saw a lot of activity, PE deals in the banking and financial services sector too showed an uptrend, according to a report on mergers and acquisition and PE by advisory firm Grant Thornton.

Three large PE deals were reported in August. Bain Capital's 30 per cent stake in Genpact, a billion-dollar transaction, enabling an exit to Oak Hill Partners, was the highlight. Flipkart raised $150 million from Naspers. PE deals totalling $1.8 billion were concluded in August, the highest-ever this year.

In the pharma space, Goldman Sachs invested $40 million in Bangalore-based Nova Medical Centers Pvt Ltd, which also saw an investment of $14 million by New Enterprise Associates in August.

The very next month, short-stay surgical care and fertility clinic company Nova Medical Centers said it would acquire a majority interest in Excel Hospitals, Kanpur, for an undisclosed amount. Given the investment, the company said it was well on its way to achieving its commitment of setting up 25 centres across India and West Asia by this year.

PE firm Proparco, a French development financing firm, invested $12.50 million for a 20 per cent stake in Strides Arcolab’s African business. Bangalore-based Strides Arcolab has been in Africa for some years now.

Global investment firm Norwest Venture Partner invested $21.82 million for a 10 per cent stake in Thyrocare Technologies and invested $4.50 million in Bangalore-based NationWide Primary Health Services, a retail chain of primary care clinics.

In the travel and tourism space, Citigroup Venture Capital International invested $137.75 million in Cox and King's unit Prometheon Holdings. In September last year, Prometheon had bought UK-based tour operator Holidaybreak for Rs 2,300 crore.

In early September, Cox and King announced plans of a stake sale in Prometheon Holdings for $137.75 million in a move to reduce its debt.