Baring Private Equity India finds its hard to let go of Mphasis. The PE firm has hiked its stake in the IT services company by 3.6% to 12.2%. The firm bought 7.6 million shares in a bulk deal from Merrill Lynch Capital Markets on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) for Rs 129 crore. Baring's stake in the software exporter stands at 12.2% now.
Baring had earlier sold 34.73% stake in Mphasis to EDS when the latter acquired the IT company in 2006. The Delhi-headquartered private equity firm had made about $255.5 million over an investment of $10-15 million in the company in its early stages.
The current deal has taken place at a time when the ownership of Mphasis is going through a major change. Hewlett-Packard recently acquired EDS, which holds 60% stake in Mphasis.
The other shareholders like Merrill Lynch had sold off almost all of its stake in the company post the transaction. Other stake holders in Mphasis are Aberdeen Asset Managers and HSBC Global Funds, which hold 3% and 2.7%, respectively in the company.
Jaithirth Rao, the founder of Mphasis, continues to hold 1.4% stake in the firm. ICICI Prudential and Lloyd George Investment Management, also hold similar stakes in the software firm.
Recently, Ganesh Ayyar, who has served HP for over 20 years, was appointed as the the CEO of Mphasis. Reportedly, more than half of Mphasis revenues come from EDS.
