RAGHUVIR BADRINATH Bangalore Private equity (PE) firms have exited from 30 Indian companies, in which they had invested, during the first nine months of 2006, according to data from Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on private equity and venture capital (VC).
Fourteen PE-backed companies raised about $887 million via IPOs during the same period, the Venture Intelligence study showed. The largest PE-backed IPO during the period was the $224 million IPO of WNS Global Services, India’s second largest BPO firm, in which Warburg Pincus (WP) has a majority stake.
WNS has listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The other PE-backed IPOs during the year included those of GMR Infrastructure, Deccan Aviation, Allcargo Logistics, R Systems and Action Construction Equipment.
Among exits via mergers and acquisitions (M&As), the largest deal was the $736 million acquisition of pharmaceuticals firm Matrix Laboratories by the US-based Mylan Laboratories. PE investors in Matrix included Temasek and Newbridge Capital. The other significant exits through this route included MphasiS (acquired by EDS), Office Tiger (acquired by RR Donnelley), Celetronix International (acquired by Jabil Circuit) and Progeon (buyback by Infosys Technologies).