Private equity investments and merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions in the country have witnessed robust growth during January-March period with announcement of deals worth $29 billion.

According to the data compiled by research firm Accenture, the total private equity investments during January-March of this year stood at $3.18 billion, while M&A activity for the first three quarters of 2011 reached at $25.82 billion.

In terms of deal-count, however, the total number of transactions decreased to 313 in the quarter to March 2011 from 389 in the year-ago period.

"The total deal value increased from $24 billion in the first quarter of calender year 2010 to $29 billion in the first quarter of 2011 mainly due to increase in average transaction size," the report noted.

A sectoral analysis shows that energy, finance and telecom were the most targetted sectors during the quarter.

Further, domestic deals were the flavour of the quarter, with 293 such pacts accounting for 94% of the overall deal value. Besides, cross-border transaction stood at 20, which is 6% of the total deal value.

UK energy giant BP buying 30% interest in Reliance Industries' 23 oil and gas blocks for $9 billion followed by Vodafone buying Essar's stake in joint venture Vodafone Essar for $5 billion are among the major deals.

Germany-based industry and infrastructure solutions company Siemens AG acquiring 19.82% equity in Indian firm Siemens Ltd for $1.37 billion is another major transaction.

In the private equity segment for the quarter ended March 2011, the total announced deal value was $3.18 billion, which is a four-fold jump from the year-ago period.

The largest PE investment during the quarter was the $1 billion (about Rs 4,500 crore) commitment by Bain Capital and Singapore's GIC to Hero Investments, the Hero group holding firm which is to buy out Honda Motors' 26% stake in listed two-wheeler maker Hero Honda.