Baring Private Equity Asia plans to acquire software services company NIIT Technologies Ltd and merge it with existing portfolio firm Hexaware Technologies Ltd, a media report said.
The Mint newspaper reported, citing two people it didn't name, the deal to acquire NIIT Tech could value the Mumbai-listed company around Rs 8,000-10,000 crore.
According to the report, Baring plans to acquire NIIT Tech in stages. It would first buy the 30.58% stake held by promoters for about Rs 2,500 crore. This would trigger an open offer for Baring to buy an additional stake as per regulatory norms.
Shares of NIIT Tech rose as much as 1.7% on Thursday to touch a high of Rs 1,229 apiece on the BSE in a flat Mumbai market. The company has a market valuation of around Rs 7,550 crore.
Baring PE Asia, which provides growth capital to companies, had acquired a majority stake in Hexaware in 2013. It held a 62.79% stake in the mid-sized software services company at the end of September, stock-exchange data showed. The PE firm had pared its stake in Hexaware last year, earning benchmark returns.
Baring PE Asia started operating in 1997 and entered India in 2006, according to its website. Over the years, it has grown into one of the largest investment firms in the region with over $16 billion of committed capital.
