PE investments down 23% to $10 bn in Jan-Oct

New Delhi: Corporate India received Private Equity investments worth USD 1.82 billion in October, up 74 percent year-on-year, while the overall tally for first 10 months this year was 23 percent lower at USD 10.24 billion, says a report.

The assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton said there were 94 transactions worth USD 1.82 billion last month, as against 95 deals worth USD 1.04 billion a year ago.

The significant uptrend in PE-Deal value in October was on account of Brookfield's acquisition of Hiranandani Group offices and retail space in Powai valued at USD 1 billion which alone contributed to 55 percent of the deal values.

The overall PE-deal momentum in January-October was however at USD 10.24 billion, down 23 percent over the same period of last year.

"PE investor sentiments have kept them from betting big this year with a 23 percent y-o-y decline in investment values much in contrast to last year," the report said.

This year recorded only 20 investments valued at and above USD 100 million, as compared to 31 deals in the January-October period of 2015.

Sector-wise, in October PE/VC investments in startups exhibited significant traction and contributed 58 percent of total deal volumes.

Within this sector, the retail space continued to dominate PE/VC interest along with travel, transport & logistics and enterprise applications and infrastructure segments, the report said.

Other sectors such as real estate, transport & logistics and manufacturing also attracted large investments over USD 100 million during the month, it added.