The senior official of global private equity major Blackstone Group expressed confidence in the firm's ability to invest approximately $ 2 billion annually in India. Jonathan D Gray, the chief operating officer, advocated for a series of measures aimed at enhancing the ease of conducting business for similar firms in India. These measures included expediting approvals for mergers and acquisitions, simplifying the privatization of publicly listed companies, and enhancing commercial dispute resolution mechanisms.
The New York-based group, operational in India for nearly two decades, noted that Indian private equity investments had yielded the highest returns globally for the firm. Additionally, investments in real estate, making Blackstone the largest landlord in the country, had proven successful.
We aim to invest roughly $ 2 billion every year in India, stated Amit Dixit, the senior managing director, during a press briefing.
Having invested a total of $ 50 billion in the country thus far, Blackstone's asset value, accounting for exits, currently stands at $ 30 billion. The firm maintains a team of 75 professionals in Mumbai dedicated to identifying assets across various sectors.
Dixit projected that over the next five years, asset values could increase by $ 25 billion, including $ 17 billion in fresh investments and up to $ 7.5 billion in value creation across portfolio companies.
Gray, acknowledging the government's efforts, proposed several reforms, citing the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the Goods and Services Tax as positive steps. He highlighted the lengthy duration of merger and acquisition processes in India, contrasting it with the swift processes in the United States.
Addressing challenges in privatizing listed entities, Gray noted that Indian regulations necessitated approval from over 90% of all shareholders, making such deals mathematically impossible. He attributed India's 7,000 listed entities, double that of the US, with just one-tenth of their market capitalisation, to these challenges.
