| Signs of weakness in the primary market issuance can bring private equity (PE) deals to the fore, experts believe, as higher cost of debt may not prompt issuers to borrow significantly. |
| Expansion and future projects of these companies cannot be delayed, however, and weak response from the equity market is likely to push them towards PE. |
| “Certainly, the environment is positive and has improved on the backdrop of this (primary market weakness), we can see better traction and momentum in PE deals,” said Pankaj Karna, partner and head mergers and acquisitions, lead advisory, Grant Thornton Corporate Finance. |
| In the last two days, two major public issues – Emaar MGF Land and Wockhardt Hospitals – have been withdrawn on account of weak response from investors. |
| In 2007, India witnessed over 150 per cent rise in deals worth $70 billion, according to Grant Thornton’s Deal Tracker. Out of the total, $51.11 billion was the value of strategic mergers and acquisitions involving Indian companies, and the remaining $19.03 billion was the result of PE deals having average size of $47 million. |
| One of the obstacles for deal execution with size of over $100 million was buoyant equity market and oversubscription of public issues, said the partner of a Singapore-based private equity firm. “This can be a good jolt for the companies and their demands will get a bit realistic now,” he said. |
| So far, good response to public issues on the backdrop of rising share market powered company promoters to demand higher valuations, taking cues from market capitalisation. There are many old and new PE firms with strong war chests, some of which can easily exceed $1 billion, dedicated for Indian investments, Karna said. |
Source: Business Standard