Investment by private equity (PE) firms has declined by 22.9 per cent in calendar year 2008 as most international funds were wary of investing in equity markets on depleting valuations of listed stocks, which has led to fewer public offers, thereby denying an exit route. PE investors put $10.79 billion in 399 deals during 2008 calendar — a decline of $3.2 billion compared to $14 billion invested across 439 deals in 2007. According to Arun Natarajan, Managing Director and CEO of Venture Intelligence, the decline in PE investment is primarily because of the sharp decline in equity prices. PE firms have lost heavily on private investments in public equity (PIPE) deals in 2008 — a value erosion of $0.89 billion (around Rs 4,400 crore) or 53.3 per cent out of $1.67 billion invested in 31 deals. The loss from the 65 PIPE deals of 2007 has been 40 per cent or $2.04 billion out of the deal size of $5.16 billion. […]

Private equity (PE) funds may revive their interest in the real estate sector this year, after a lull of six to nine months, as valuations of properties have dropped by a third, making them attractive for investors, say realty funds and investment advisors to these funds. Most of the funds have not signed any deals in the past few months as realty prices fell sharply and economic slowdown deepened across the world, which slowed the flow of funds significantly. “The amount of money available today is one-tenth of what it used to be. But India-specific funds, which have already raised money, will deploy more in the current quarter than they have earmarked in the last quarter,” said Subhash Bedi, partner of Red Fort Capital, a India-focussed realty fund that has invested nearly Rs 1,500 crore in the property market so far. […]

Private equity players are having a tough time with a slow down in the services and manufacturing sectors, which promised good returns even back. But some investors seem to have found an answer closer to the ground- in agricultural fields.Last year, Indian agro-based companies attracted a host of private equity players, players, who see potential in this space on the back of strong demand and the sector's insulation from the credit-induced economic crisis in the West. The prominent deals in 2008 include the $50 million investment by Blackstone in Hyderabad-based Nuziveedu seeds, which is one of the largest hybrid seeds companies in India. Another prominent example was Morgan Stanley's investment in castor oil maker Biotor Industries, through its Asia fund. More recently, Chennai-based Sree Ramcides, a 36-year old, family-run agro solutions company attracted $5 million from ePlanet Ventures last month. […]