2017 will have to raise the bar in terms of deal-making. 2016 was about headline-grabbing numbers breaking record highs. Both M&A volumes and dry-powder reserves beat the previous years and it would be safe to assume that 2017 would largely be a year of deployment.
Trends to Watch: Buyouts to gain further momentum – A significant change both in the mindset of promoters who are now no more wary of selling businesses and also private equity investors leaning towards controlled transactions, has upped the game on buyouts. Will the Tiger roar again? – Tiger Global Management, the American investment firm, can be credited with having single-handedly put Indian technology start-ups on the world map. As Tiger-backed companies such as Flipkart and Ola battle their American rivals, the big question is: will Tiger open up its purse strings to back them and also make fresh commitments.2017—The year of deployment – Dry powder—the amount of cash with private equity and venture capital (VC) funds—stands close to a six-year high of $7.1 billion. In 2017 Indian PE funds will not be short of money to make new bets. Stressed asset sales to take centre stage – With the volume of non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking system exceeding Rs4 trillion, 2017 could see a large number of deals in the stressed assets space aided by the bankruptcy code and new norms allowing foreign ownership of asset reconstruction companies announced this year. REITs, InvITs to take off in 2017 – After having toyed with the idea of real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) for almost a decade, Indian markets are finally poised to see the launch of these products in 2017.