Citi sells stake in Polaris

US-based Citigroup has divested its holdings in Chennai-based financial technology company Polaris Software Lab through Orbitech, a company controlled by Citigroup.

In a bulk trade deal executed over two days, Orbitech offloaded 1.33 million shares for Rs 150.97 a share on September 24 and 1.29 million shares for Rs 152.48 a day later. The networth of the offloaded shares was around Rs 40 crore, with Orbitech offloading around 6 per cent of its holding.

Citigroup, which has a stake in Polaris through Orbitech and Citibank A/C Orbitech Ltd, has now reduced its stake to 40.67 per cent with these transactions. As on June 30, Citigroup had a 43.33 per cent stake in the Arun Jain-promoted Polaris.

Polaris Software had recorded a growth of 18 per growth in its net profit for the first quarter of 2009-10 and has been expanding into newer markets, including Europe, with its banking solution product Global Universal Banking (GUB).