Led by big-ticket investments from infrastructure and manufacturing funds, private equity (PE) firms' investments in the country touched an impressive USD 3.3 billion in January-March, 2011. PE investments in the January-March quarter of calender year 2011 were about 57 per cent higher than the USD 2.1 billion worth of PE investments registered in the year-ago period and more than double the USD 1.5 billion PE investments in October-December 2010, according to data provider Venture Intelligence. […]

Announcing a major development, Economic Affairs Secretary Mr. R.Gopalan said that private equity firms, which were unregulated till now, will be brought under SEBI regulations. Mr. Gopalan said that the market regulator had already started work on regulating private equity players and that the guidelines would be issued very soon. The regulation of private equity firms comes at a time when there have been growing concerns over private pools of capital such as private equity. The Reserve Bank of India too, had voiced its concerns over the unregulated nature of the private equity firms in the past. Providing further insight into the regulation procedure, Mr. Gopalan said that the regulation would be on the same lines as that of venture capital funds. Right now, the venture capital regulations need compulsory registration with SEBI. […]

Private equity or PE firms are once again actively looking for investments in the logistics sector, which had experienced a drop in the pace of deal activity due to a mismatch in valuations. PE firms were previously looking at deals of at least $50 million, while smaller logistics companies were keen on deals of only up to $20 million. “A good number of PE deals in the sector concluded in the (current) financial year as well as a healthy number of deals in the pipeline are reflective of the strong PE interest in the sector,” said Manish Saigal, executive director and national industry head, transportation and logistics, KPMG India Pvt Ltd. […]

Private equity investments in Indian companies declined 54 per cent to US $324 million in February, over the same month a year-ago. “The second month of 2011 saw US $324 million of private equity investments in Indian companies, 54 per cent down from the investments of US $699 million for the same month last year,” according to a report by financial consultant Four-S Services. Besides, the total number of deals announced in February 2011 was lower than that in the year-ago period. In February this year, 22 PE deals were announced, against 23 deals in the same month last year. The year 2011 has so far witnessed investments worth US $755 million, compared to US $1.15 billion for the same period (January-February) last year. […]

India’s education sector is likely to see heavy investments from private equity funds over the next couple of years betting on increased government spending and as private players plan expansions, officials said. The sector, pegged at $86 billion, is seeing fresh interest from foreigners and large funds who are pumping in money in services, technology and infrastructure, they added. “The education market in India is roughly worth $50 billion in the private sector and all parts of the educational value chain are offering good investment opportunities,” said Rajesh Singhal, managing partner of private equity firm Milestone Religare Investment Advisors Pvt Ltd. “Private equity investment in the next two-three years should be in the range of $400-$500 million and that should not be a difficult target at all,” he added. Currently, investments are to the tune of $200-$250 million, officials say. Milestone Religare recently invested 250 million rupees in an Indian education service firm from its Rs6 billion private equity fund that focusses on education and healthcare. […]