In 2011, investments worth USD 10.1 billion were announced by way of 441 deals, compared to USD 8.1 billion through 362 deals in the previous year.

Year-on-year deal activity has witnessed an upsurge despite PE investments witnessing a decline in the October-December period on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

PE investment in October-December, 2011, declined to about USD 1.4 billion across 105 deals from USD 1.8 billion across 88 transactions in the same period of 2010, largely due to economic uncertainty and the decline in public markets, the report said.

However, going forward, "The sheer amount of uninvested capital lying with PE funds and the increasingly attractive valuations available -- including in the listed companies segment -- points to a turnaround in the quarters ahead," Venture Intelligence CEO Arun Natarajan said.

The largest PE investment announced during 2011 was the Rs 3,650 crore commitment by Bain Capital and Singapore's GIC in Hero Investments, the Hero Group holding firm which bought out Honda Motors' 26 per cent stake in listed two-wheeler maker Hero Honda.

The other major transactions included an about USD 474 million investment by Apollo Management in various group companies of Welspun Group, followed by Apax Partners' USD 375 million infusion in iGate to help buyout fellow listed IT services firm Patni Computers.

Meanwhile, private equity firms pumped USD 2.68 billion into real estate firms during 2011, a 69 per cent jump vis-a-vis the year-ago period.

Private equity firms made 69 investments in the real estate sector during 2011, out of which 53 transactions with a cumulative value of USD 2.68 billion were announced.

In 2010, there were 63 PE investments in the realty sector, of which 55 worth USD 1.58 billion were announced.

Residential projects accounted for 57 per cent of the investments (by volume) during 2011, followed by commercial projects, with a 19 per cent share of the total investment.

The largest private equity investment in the property sector during 2011 was Jeff Morgan Capital's commitment of USD 320 million to publicly listed Compact Disc India's Film City project.