Besides, some foreign MNCs -- possibly enticed by the world's second fastest growing economy -- sought to enter India by acquiring into local companies, mostly in telecom, steel and pharma sectors.
Investors got the upper hand in 2009, while fund houses struggled to cope with regulatory changes and upheavals in the economy, even as the industry shrugged off recession blues with its assets hitting an all time high of Rs 8 lakh crore (Rs 8 trillion).
The biggest irony is that nearly two-thirds of these funds are estimated to have come from investors in overseas markets, which themselves were in shambles and where companies were in dire need of capital, forcing them to beg their respective governments for money.
They used to be an avenue of mutual gains for investors in both good and bad times for years, but incurred heavy losses in 2008, when mutual funds became poorer by about Rs 1,50,000 core (Rs 1,500 billion) or about one-third of their total size.
The total number of M&A deals announced till December 15 stood at 445 and its combined value was $30.72 billion, according to global consultancy firm Grant Thornton said. It hardly a match to last year's 676 deals worth $51.11 billion.
After a subdued year, the investors and market experts are expecting the PE and VC investments to pick up next year as raising debts have become costlier and IPOs are not finding any takers and the dampened investor sentiments might finally start improving on the back of efforts made by the government. At the same time, VC investments into Indian firms have declined to $733 million with 122 deals so far this year, from 142 deals worth $874 million in 2007.
Anil Ambani group's Reliance Power on Monday made its debut on the bourses, listing at a premium of over 20 per cent, but slipped below the issue price in early morning trade.
Reliance Power IPO from billionaire Anil Ambani-led group may have generated highest demand, but its listing premium could only be ranked the lowest after DLF among 10 major IPOs since elder brother Mukesh's Reliance Petroleum made its debut on the bourses in 2006.
India's corporate honchos spent a considerable time and energy this year at deal tables and executed over thousand transactions involving sale or purchase of equity stakes in their companies. On an average, every single day of 2007 saw about three deals being announced. This included a total of 1,047 merger and acquisitions as well as private equity deals for a total value of $68.32 billion (about Rs 2,75,000 crore).
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