Hong Kong-based Baring Private Equity (PE) Asia has partially exited close to 10% stake in listed infotech firm Coforge Ltd, previously known as NIIT Technologies Ltd.
The private equity firm sold 30 lakh shares at Rs 4,261.16 apiece and 30 lakh shares at Rs 4,273.24 apiece for aggregate gross proceeds of Rs 2,560.32 crore ($333 million), according to Thursday's bulk deal data on BSE.
Baring PE held an aggregate of 3.04 crore shares representing 49.97% stake in the company as on December 31, 2021 and will now hold 2.44 crore shares representing 40.28% stake in the information technology (IT) service provider.
Baring’s aggregate investment in the company has grown 2.85 times in less than three years. This translates into an annualised return of over 50%, according to VCCircle estimates.
Baring first came in as an investor in mid-2019 when it signed pacts to buy 30% stake in NIIT Technologies and made an open offer to buy up to 26% more in the Noida-based Indian company.
By the end of that year, the private equity firm ended up owning over 70% stake through an aggregate investment of over Rs 6,075 crore.
During 2020, the investor sold over 50 lakh shares worth Rs 1,041 crore. In 2021, it further sold 83.5 lakh shares worth over Rs 3,211 crore.
Nomura India Mother Fund and Societe Generale bought 4,67,500 shares and 4,86,000 shares respectively at Rs 4,260 apiece through bulk deal on Thursday.
With the latest sale of shares, Baring PE Asia will hold just over 40% stake in the company.
The private equity firm did not respond to the queries till press time. It also holds investments in other tech companies.
Conforge Ltd ended Friday's trade at Rs 4,296.80 per share, higher by nearly 1% on BSE.
