A report on The Economic Times compared the Indian private equity industry to the warrior Abhimanyu of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. The valiant soldier, explained in the report, was able to penetrate his opponent army's defensee ring, but since he only had an entry strategy, he failed because he did not have an exit plan.
The report written by Vivek Singla, who also works for a private equity firm, cited data from Asia Private Equity Review which estimated that during 2006-2011, private equity transactions valued at about USD 38.1 billion were completed. However, as of March 2013, about 80% or USD 30.5 billion remained under water. In addition, the remaining balance of USD 7.6 billion only got a cash multiple of 1.1 times when they were realized. Around 72% of the sales proceeds were from deals which happened from 2006-2007.
One of the explanations for the sheer lack of exits was the generosity of Indian general partners, the report said. Singla wrote, "Profligacy is one of the mothers of toxicity. Granted that private shares came stapled with various protection and exit rights, but most GPs in the past have overlooked the need to bake-in a size and illiquidity discount or currency depreciation in their "base case" financial models."
The report also said businesses that were not able to follow through with their growth forecasts were also a problem. Excessive intermediation was also a curse on the industry as stiff competition among investment bankers have led them to make unrealistic promises to business owners just to get their consent.
Greed is encouraged through ill advice, Singla said in his report. He concluded, "Exits, especially the ones accomplished via public floatations, haven't fetched that top dollar. Public fund managers and retail investors love those stocks that pop on listing. So, IPOs are generally "book-built" at a discount to the market comparables -a wisdom aptly imported by Twitter from Facebook's listing debacle."
Join the Conversation