Blackstone to Buy Mphasis with 60.5%, Deal To Cross $1 Billion

The Blackstone Group is set to take over Mphasis with a majority stake. (Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia/Mphasis)

Global private equity fund, Blackstone, on Monday said it had reached an accord with Mphasis to buy a majority 60.5 percent stake in the leading IT services player. The deal is valued between Rs 5,466 crore and Rs 7,071 crore.

As per the Takeover Code in India, the transaction will also trigger a mandatory open offer for a purchase of additional 26 percent shares of the company, and the acquiring entity has released a public announcement to the stock exchanges.

<b>Blackstone statement</b>

The shares are being acquired from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) that currently owns 60.5 percent in Mphasis. “Blackstone will pay a purchase price of Rs 430 per share,” said the statement.

Mphasis is listed on the National Stock Exchange and the BSE, earlier the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The shares of the city-based Mpasis, however, declined by Rs 13.90 or 2.95 percent to Rs 453.60 from an opening price of Rs 472.30 and previous closing rate of Rs 467.20 on the BSE in the post-noon trading.

JM Financial Institutional Securities Ltd is the lead manager for the deal transaction.

HPE’s exit from Mphasis is in alignment reflects its capital allocation priorities and will have not any adverse impact on its commercial ties with the latter.

While our financial relationship is changing, the business and commercial relationship with Mphasis remains an important part of our service delivery strategy. We remain committed to our strategic partnership with Mphasis and provide our customers with high level of service and support they expect from us.&nbsp;

<b>Mike Nefkens, Vice-President, HPE enterprise services</b>

HPE also plans to renew the service agreement with Mphasis for another five years post-transaction, expected to close in second half of 2016 fiscal.

Mphasis’ last 12 months revenue as of 31 December 2015 was Rs 59,996 million, while net profit was Rs 6,923 million.

It has large revenues from banking and financial services and insurance apart from new generation services, including digital solutions.

Mphasis serves marquee customers across the globe, including six top global banks, 11 out of 15 top mortgage lenders and three top global insurance firms. The company has about 24,000 employees across 16 countries the world over.&nbsp;

<b>Statement</b>