Exits remain under stress even as total deals see an uptake amidst Covid pandemic: Report

The investment activity in India seems to have been recovering gradually but it could take some time before investors explore more deals across sectors, a research report by IVCA-EY India said.

As per the report the exit activity continued to remain muted with October 2020 recording $288 million or Rs 2,100 crore in exits. This was mainly supported by deal activity in the open market segment. If the recovery in the capital markets becomes broader and mid-cap and small indices inch further upwards, we can expect to see a pickup in PE-backed IPOs and open market exit of PE positions in listed companies, the report said.

In October 2020, buyouts was the largest deal segment with US$4.4 billion recorded across eight deals (US$500 million across five deals in October 2019) mainly on account of the two large deals in the commercial real estate space noted above. Growth investments recorded US$3.6 billion across 13 deals (US$1.7 billion in October 2019). Start-ups recorded US$318 million in investments across 58 deals (US$655 million across 61 deals in October 2019), the report added.


“This spike is primarily due to a couple of large US$1 billion plus deals in the commercial real estate sector and the continuing in-flow of PE investments into entities of the Reliance Group,” said Vivek Soni, Partner and National Leader Private Equity Services, EY.