Baring PE Asia to acquire 30% stake in NIIT Technologies

Baring Private Equity Asia(BPEA) has signed to acquire a 30% stake in NIIT Technologies Ltd for about Rs 2,627 crore ($381 million). With this Baring PE India has entered strongly into the IT services market, before this BPEA already owns 62.66% stake in Hexaware Technologies Ltd since 2013.

Funds affiliated with BPEA have signed definitive agreements to purchase the stake totalling 18.85 million shares of NIIT Technologies from NIIT Ltd and other promoter entities. Baring will acquire the shares at ₹1,394 per share. That's 3.3% higher than the Rs 1,349.50 price at which shares of NIIT Technologies was trading on the closing day on in BSE on Friday. This yet to take the approval from the regulatory bodies the Competition Commission of India.

Promoters of NIIT Technologies , which include NIIT and the families of Rajendra Pawar and Vijay Thadani, hold a total of 30.04% stake in the company. NIIT directly has a 23.1% stake and have strong presence in various verticals in India including Education, travel, banking and insurance. Now with the involvement of Baring Private Equity Asia( BPEA) will provide further impetus to the management team led by CEO, Sudhir Singh to take the company to the next level of growth. This transaction will further support our growth from being No.1 IT training company since inception in India to a global leader in talent development.

At the same time, NIIT Technologies has also signed the pact to acquire WHISHWORKS IT Consulting, an IT services and consulting company specializing in MuleSoft and Big Data technologies.

NIIT Technologies will acquire a 53% stake in WHISHWORKS initially and the remaining over the next two years through payouts linked to financial performance.

Separately, NIIT Technologies signed a definitive agreement to sell its entire 88.99% stake in Esri India Technologies Ltd to existing shareholder Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc (Esri, Inc). Esri India Technologies is in the field of Geographic Information System (GIS) using the distributionship rights of Esri, Inc.

In the whole process, Credit Suisse acted as the exclusive financial adviser to NIIT and other promoter group entities for the transaction with Baring( BPEA) and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co acted as the legal adviser to NIIT while J. Sagar Associates and Ropes & Gray acted as legal advisers to Baring.

Baring PE Asia.

Baring PE Asia has strong presence with their own offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Jakarta, Mumbai and Delhi.