PE inflows spurt 15% in 2021 to record $40 bn

Private equity investments hit a record high of $40.1 billion in 2021, an increase of over 15 per cent from the previous year, led by a $3.6 billion flow into Flipkart and $1.93 billion into Bundl Technologies, as per a report.

According to the data collated by Refinitiv, an LSEG business, while the value of inflows rose 15.2 per cent from $34.8 billion in 2020 to $40.1 billion in 2021, the deal volume soared to 990 in the reporting year from 588 in 2020.

Analysts at the agency expect the inflow momentum to continue in 2022 as technology companies, especially startups, continue to attract capital from both private and public markets.

They also expect healthcare, financial services, consumer-related, and education services, which are ripe for digitalisation and remained resilient during the pandemic, to continue to attract investors moving into 2022 as substantial capital is waiting to be deployed by India-focused funds.

The buoyant secondary markets and record primary listings in 2021 were other reasons for the spike in inflows, driving up confidence in the capital market, providing a conducive environment for companies to go public and offering investors a viable exit, they said.

Internet specific companies attracted maximum PE interest in 2021 with their total investments scaling to $20.74 billion from a low $7.6 million in 2020.

Meanwhile, fund raising by domestic/India-focused PEs rose to $4.72 billion, a marginal 5 per cent growth over $4.5 billion in 2020.

According to Refinitive, the top 10 PE deals of the year were the $3.6 billion raised by Flipkart, Bundl Technologies ($1.925 billion), Think & Learn ($1.76 billion), Blinkit India ($1.4 billion), Sporta Technologies ($1.1 billion), Axelia Solutions ($1.04 billion), Mohalla Tech ($912.3 million), Meesho Payments ($870 million), Zomato ($798.14 million) and Pine Labs ($700 million).