PE activity in May touches USD 12,929 mn; down 75 pc y-o-y

NEW DELHI: Fund raising activity through private equity route witnessed an upsurge in May and touched USD 12,929 million, but is still 75 per cent lower in value terms on year-on-year basis, a study says.

"May brought an encouraging 81 per cent upsurge in the total value of private equity deals, which rose from USD 7,162 million to USD 12,929 million in just four weeks," global deal tracking firm Zyphyr said.

This is despite the fact that the deal volume in May was significantly less than that in April, suggesting that there were more high value deals being signed off.

In May this year, only 172 deals were announced while in April the number was as high as 257.

Notwithstanding the surge in deal value is "still 75 per cent lower year-on-year, against a less significant 52 per cent drop in volume," Zyphyr added.

A sector wise analysis shows that the services sector was the most frequently targeted but, given the large deal involving China Construction Bank, the banking segment accounted for a larger share of total value.

The largest deal in May by value was China Construction Bank's six per cent stake sale for USD 7,315 million.

The food, beverages and tobacco industry was buoyed by the Oriental Brewery buy out, which pushed the value of this segment almost 11 times higher to USD 1,809 million from USD 166 million in four weeks, the report added.