|
|
|
BIGGEST PE DEALS
Golden handshakes
Get savvy about the biggest private equity deals over the last year, the biggest dealmakers and what Venture Capitalists look for when zeroing in on potential start-ups! Also in this package, meet the stalwarts at Saif Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners to get a grip on their India strategy. Plus, columns by entrepreneurs who made it big with timely PE investments...
|
| |
 Remember the March 2005 $560 million Warbug Pincus – Bharti Tele-ventures deal? In total, Warbug Pincus infused $300 million into the company and by the time the Private Equity (PE) firm exited Bharti Tele-ventures, it had mopped up a staggering $1.3 billion. Overnight this deal thumb tacked India as a Mecca for global PE investments. Not that PE players did not operate in India before this, but Warbug’s bulging back pocket at the time of exit did take the lid off India as a hot PE destination. If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, merely glance at how the value of PE deals skyrocketed between 2005 and 2007. From $2,183 million in 2005, total value of deals jumped to a staggering $17.4 billion in 2007 (see table), an increase of a jaw dropping 744%.
Interestingly, while PE investments and Venture Capital (VC) funding are clearly demarcated propositions in the USA (where VC funding only refers to investments in early stage and expanding companies); in Europe, VC funding covers all stages. Traditionally, PE players can be described as firms that invest in companies, which already have some revenue base and have future growth potential via restructuring or bringing in new products, services and technology.
However, a cross-section of market watchers opine that in emerging markets like India, the distinction between the two is increasingly blurring and both these terms are used synonymously and as proxies. According to Harish H V of Grant Thornton, “In India, PE is understood as capital being invested typically through a LP (Limited Partnership) structure by domestic and international institutions to take reasonable stakes in unlisted and listed companies through private placement and also buyouts.” For the purpose of this listing of the biggest deals in India over the last year, we will use the term Private Equity to describe the industry in its entirety.
|
| |
 Interestingly, the Warbug deal in 2005 not only rocked the Indian streets by being the biggest stock trade, but also sent shivers to the boardrooms of global PE firms. SMC, a Private Equity firm reckons, “It (Warbug-Bharti) was a landmark deal suggesting the absorption depth of Indian corporate at the investment stage and hence, bringing India on the global radar of PE Funds.” In fact, in 2007, India raked in the highest amount of Private Equity, comprehensively outstripping China, which attracted only $8.3 billion PE investments during the same period. The future seems even more enticing.
Evalueserve forecasts show that by the year 2010, India will see a staggering $20 billion worth of PE receipts. “Our research also shows there are more than 366 firms currently operating in India and another 69 are planning to start their operations soon. In total, they seem to have amassed $48 billion earmarked for investments in India during the next three and a half years, (July 2007 – December 2010),” says the latest Evalueserve report.
As of today, ‘shooting northwards’ is how one can easily describe the gargantuan increase of PE investments in India. As discussed earlier, PE investments are not an alien phenomenon and have been quite prevalent in the country for more than three decades, even playing a significant role in the Silicon Valley story. It was in 1975 when Risk Capital Foundation become the first VC-PE to kickstart its operations in India. After that, many Indian institutions like Industrial Financial Corporation of India (IFCI), ICICI, among others, started mushrooming all over the place. There was no considerable action in the Indian VC-PE space until the end of the mid and late 90s. With the dot-com boom, the VC-PE phenomenon got a shot in the arm and in 2000, the value of deals skyrocketed to $1.16 billion. Then post the dot-com bubble bust, investments plummeted and reached a low of $470 million in 2003. But since 2004, there has been a secular rise in PE inflows.
The broad umbrella of Private Equity also encompasses some new deal variants that perhaps need mention. Consider the case of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., which has bought stakes in different companies in consideration for modest cash payment along with branding and advertising agreements with the investee company. These fall under Private Treaties. There are many big names like that of Dainik Jagran, HT Media, Dainik Bhaskar and Network 18, which are known to be associated with Private Treaties (by already having or planning to spin off new departments for the same).
Then there are Buyouts. Harish defines a buyout as an “acquisition of a significant portion or a majority control in a more mature company. The acquisition normally entails a change of
ownership.” The Gokuldas Exports-Blackstone deal falls into this category, where the latter bought a 70% stake (includes 20% through open offer) in Gokuldas Exports. Next, is the burgeoning breed of Sovereign Funds. Here, funds are managed by central governments of various countries for picking up stakes in companies. Names like Temasek Holdings and GIC, both
managed by the Singapore Government, are the protagonists in this breed of funds.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
