Shrija Agrawal and Madhav A Chanchani
VCCircle.com
January 2009
More Controlled Transactions in Future
There were 13 buyout transactions in 2008 as compared to 11 in 2007. The average deal size in India has also increased sharply by 125% to US$36 million in 2008, from about US$16 million in 2005. The prominent buyouts include New Silk Route Advisors acquiring Dawanay Day AV; Future Capital Holdings acquiring Centrum Direct and Centrum Wealth Managers; ILabs Capital picking up a 60% stake in Lehren Entertainment Pvt Ltd; Navis picking up a 60% stake in Sah Petroleum Ltd; and RFCL (an ICICI Venture company) buying out completely Alved Pharma and Foods Pvt Ltd, and the medical diagnostic business of Godrej Industries Ltd.
As the credit crisis surfaces, a lot of family houses or entrepreneurs in India will shed their non-core assets and focus on their core strengths. "I see a huge potential and possibility for private equity in India to get to the next level – which is to get controlled transactions," said Archana Hingorani, executive director of IIML.
