Private Equity firm Blackstone Group announced Monday it would buy Hewlett-Packard Enterprise's stake in Indian firm Mphasis for $1.1 billion (about Rs. 7,285 crore). This is believed to be the largest IT deal for US-based Blackstone in India.
Texas-based HP Enterprise (HPE) owns 60.5 percent stake in Mphasis, and Blackstone has agreed to pay Rs 430 per share to HPE, the Economic Times reports. Companies such as Tech Mahindra and Apollo had been bidding for the Mphasis buyout over the past few months.
As per Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) norms, Blackstone will also have to make an open offer for an additional 26 percent stake in Mphasis, Reuters reports. Depending on the responses to the offer letter, the value of the deal is expected to be between $825 million and $1.1 billion.
HPE is reportedly one of the biggest sources of revenue for the Indian IT firm, although its revenue has been declining over the last few quarters.
In response to the open offer filed Monday by Mphasis, its stock declined almost 3 percent and was trading at Rs 455 at about 1 p.m. on the BSE.
HPE and Blackstone have reportedly agreed to the terms of the Master Services Agreement, which would be signed with Mphasis, after it gets approval by Mphasis' board of directors and shareholders, Press Trust of India reports.
"We see large potential going forward driven by Mphasis's world-class delivery capabilities and its access to Blackstone's portfolio of companies across the globe, [sic]" Amit Dixit, senior managing director and co-head of private equity in India at Blackstone, was quoted as saying by PTI.
The sale is reportedly expected to be completed in the next few months and is subject to conditions and approvals.
[1 lakh = 100,000 | 1 crore = 10 million | 100 crore = 1 billion]
