Private equity major Carlyle-backed product engineering services company Quest Global has acquired a majority stake in enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions provider People Tech Group, for an undisclosed amount.
Quest Global said in a release on Tuesday that the latest acquisition will help it better serve customers, especially original equipment manufacturers in the automative industry. It did not disclose the quantum of stake acquired or any other financial details of the deal.
The acquisition comes nine months after private equity giant Carlyle had acquired a 30% stake in Quest Global and also bought back all shares from the latter’s other investors including Bain Capital, Advent International and GIC. Carlyle had reportedly acquired the stake for $500 million, in a deal that had valued Quest Global at $1.8 billion.
Of this, the buyback was reportedly worth $200 million and Quest Global founder Ajit Prabhu had also invested $120 million to increase his stake in the company from 8% to 40%.
“With offices located across the US and a development center in Hyderabad, the acquisition of People Tech marks a milestone in Quest Global's growth journey, expanding its footprint in India and North America within the automotive and hi-tech industries,” Quest Global said in a release.
Quest Global said that People Tech has capabilities in architecture, design, UX, development and testing of HMI & applications for infotainment systems and instrument clusters.
“In addition, the company specialises in Software in Loop (SIL) and Model in Loop (MIL) testing of ADAS systems. People Tech also strengthens Quest Global’s capabilities in enterprise software, cloud, data engineering, and analytics for the hi-tech industry,” it further said in its release.
Founded in 1997, the Singapore headquartered Quest Global is an engineering research and development company that employs more than 17,800 people spread across 17 countries.
“With People Tech’s experience, we are well-positioned to accelerate growth, scale operations, and address the evolving needs of our clients globally as we strive to be the most trusted partner for the world’s hardest engineering problems,” said Prabhu.
“With this transaction we will be able to bring our Data/AI and Enterprise Software services to a broader client base and leverage the substantial industry expertise of Quest Global resources,” said Vishwa Prasad, founder and CEO of People Tech.
