A whopping 75 per cent of private investments in public equity (PIPE) deals of 2007 have gone sour for their investors, according to a study by Delhi-based NEXGEN Capitals. However, there is a silver lining to the PIPE deals story in India. Banking, financial services and insurance, telecom, and retail are the sectors which seemed to have survived the market meltdown. Retail was the top performer with returns of 41 per cent. An analysis of 63 PIPE deals stuck last year shows that infrastructure sector has been the worst performer. In 2007, the infrastructure sector saw PIPE deals worth Rs 5,912 crore but the marked-to-market value of these transactions has eroded nearly 50 per cent to Rs 2,967 crore as on July 7. NEXGEN Capitals, which is the merchant-banking arm of Delhi-based brokerage SMC Global Securities, said total investment of Rs 21,857 crore in PIPE deals last year stood at Rs 19,223 crore, down 16.7 per cent.   more »