Information technology and IT-enabled services sector continue to hog the limelight when it comes to attracting investments from private equity players.

While the PE firms invested about $2,524.75 million in 97 deals during the quarter ended September 2012, the IT and ITeS companies had a share of about 50 per cent. This sector had attracted $1,295 million in 45 reported investments in the third quarter.

The investments showed a growth rate of 4.4 per cent over the investments in the same period last year ($2,415 million in 120 transactions) and a healthy 32 per cent over the preceding quarter (which had witnessed investments of $1,909 million in 105 deals).

The Chennai-based Venture Intelligence, which tracks PE deals and mergers and acquisition transactions, has said that it was Bain Capital’s investment of $1 billion in the US-listed, Gurgaon-based business process outsourcing firm Genpact that drove the investments into the sector.

Bain Capital Partners’ purchase of shares held by General Atlantic and Oak Hill Capital was the largest PE investment during the third quarter, with no other investment crossing the $200-million mark.

Blackstone acquired a 6.1 per cent stake in the publicly listed Financial Technologies India through open market transactions. Actis invested $40 million in ATM outsourcing and payments company AGS Transact Technologies and Carlyle picked up shares worth $39 million in the BSE-listed Infotech Enterprises.

During the quarter, venture capital deals accounted for 54 per cent of the investments (in volume terms) as against 42 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago. The share of ‘late stage’ deals was 21 per cent, while the share of listed company investments was 13 per cent during the latest quarter.

>kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in

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