To get another look at the effects of the global economic slowdown, I think its interesting to see what's been happening in India over the last month.
The burgeoning PE industry in India has slowed a bit, with four deals pulled in the last month after lengthy negotiations.
Blackstone dropped its $275M bid for 26% of Ushodaya enterprises, ICICI's PE group backed off an $800M deal with Jaypee Infratech, a major builder of infrastructure, the Future Group walked out of a deal with DishTV, and General Atlantic ditched a deal with Essar Power after signing a term sheet.
At least one of these was because of tightening credit available to
investors looking for leverage and in the Future Group's case, they walked
away because of of a reduced valuation.
But the downturn hasn't stopped Canaan Partners from closing its next fund, 25% of which may go to India.
And ePlanet, the old DFJ affiliate is taking aim at growth stage investments in India. While other growth stage investors plan on gathering for the first ever Indian VC/PE Growth-Stage investor conference in Pune, Maharashtra next month.
So there continues to be fundraising activity, at least at the early and growth stages. And although the Bombay Stock Exchange had a rocky run last week, it seems to have stabilized in the last three days.
But it ain't easy being an Indian LevFin guy (leveraged finance) right now...
And what about my old flame, microfinance? I'll dig into the recent news in that sector tomorrow.
Comments