According to EY’s private equity monthly Deal Tracker, July 2018 recorded investments worth US$1.5 billion across 63 deals, with growth deals recording a 23% increase in value compared to July 2017. Year-to-date, PE/VC investments till July 2018 have crossed US$16.9 billion, 45% higher compared to the same period last year. July 2018 recorded US$376 million across 11 exits with one US$100 million plus deal each in the financial services and pharmaceuticals sectors.
Talking about the PE landscape, Vivek Soni, Partner and National Leader Private Equity Services, EY said, “Notwithstanding headwinds at a global as well as the domestic level, Indian PE/VC investment activity has maintained a steady run rate so far, clocking an average of US$2 billion worth of PE/VC investments per month in 2018. With PE/VC investments in 2018 till date adding up to US$16.9 billion, investment values are already 45% higher than last year’s comparable period. As of now, we see no reason to alter our initial projections made in the beginning of 2018, it appears we are well on track to witness another record year for PE/VC investments in India. “
The fewer number of large deals in July is no indication of a trend, as there are many mega deals in the works, the most prominent being the recently announced US$4.2 billion acquisition of Arysta LifeScience, an agrochemicals company by UPL Limited. Press reports seem to indicate that UPL is looking to part-fund this acquisition by raising funds from large PE funds.
