Blackstone's Mphasis deal rescues PE firms

● Venture capitalists double earnings to $4.06 billion

- AYANTI BERA

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS were not as lucky as venture capital firms in terms of reaping gains through public market exits during the current calendar year. Unlike the VC firms, which netted $4.06 billion till November—double their last year's earnings—the gains for PE firms were flat at $13.3 billion, showed data shared by Venture Intelligence. This was also thanks to Blackstone's $808-million exit from Mphasis, without which their earnings would have been lower compared to the same period last year.

However, over the last five years, the number of exit deals by PEs in the public markets has risen consistently, encouraged by a robust appetite among public market investors.