| From Business-standard.com: Sectors with cheap valuations are on the radar of most private equity funds, most of whom are flush with funds. Owing to the market slowdown in the first half of the year, most PE funds did not deploy cash. Deals clinched in the last few weeks indicate that PE funds are targeting real estate, education and infrastructure companies.
Recently, Bahrain’s TAIB Bank acquired a 26 per cent stake in Anant Raj Industries. Lightspeed Ventures and Sequoia Capital invested $18 million (Rs 76.3 crore) in Tutorvista.com, followed by JP Morgan, which has picked up a 33 per cent stake in Alok Infrastructure’s Special Purpose Vehicle.
“Real estate, as a sector, has corrected a lot and probably we could see some more correction but there is no dearth of demand. Price has now become attractive for some of the good companies in the sector. One will see lots of deals going forward,” said the country head of an international PE fund. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Realty Index has crashed more than 60 per cent this year from its peak of 13,848 as on January 8, 2008..... Full Article: Source
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