KKR spearheads largest Indian leveraged buyout ever. This is big.

A happy posting for a change. I always get feedback that my entries are often negative about India and not the euphoric, crazy for India posts you see in the news and other blogs. So first things first, I'm not negative on India. I love the place, and I think that has insane amounts of potential. At the same time, there are a lot of stupid things going on in India and being done by Indians around the world. If you want to read fluffy b.s. about Aishwarya and India as the next superpower, you probably are at the wrong place.

But that said, this is some good and big news...

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), the firm that invented and continues to be amongst the bad-asses in the private equity world just agreed to pay $900 million for 85% for Indian software maker Flextronics Software Systems. The leveraged buy out (LBO) is the largest in Indian history. (Google the term if you don't know what it is).

So this is good news on many fronts:

1. KKR's recognition of the Indian market is a blue chip endorsement of the country and its companies and will probably spur more private equity investment in India. Other notable PE firms such Blackstone, Carlyle, General Atlantic Partners, Warburg Pincus and Temasek holdings have already established a presence in India as well.
2. Although India lags behind China and other Asian countries in foreign direct investment, it is doing well in private equity. This is also just another positive sign from a foreign direct investment perspective.
3. It validates that larger deals can be had in India, those over $100MM.

Managing director of The Asia Venture Capital Journal, Paul Mackintosh put it best "Essentially this deal reconfirms the quality and validity of the opportunities in India. It confirms that Asia in general, and India in particular, is a place the new private equity funds can really put to work on a big scale."