Deutsche Bank to sell 49% DSL Soft stake to HCL

All-stock deal likely to be wrapped up in two months.

The Shiv Nadar-promoted HCL Technologies is all set to buy out Deutsche Bank's 49 per cent stake in DSL Software, a financial services joint venture between the two. The all stock deal is expected to be wrapped up in the next couple of months.

"This is a part of the company's strategy to consolidate its operations. HCL Technologies will be the 100 per cent owner of DSL Software," Saurav Adhikari, corporate vice president (strategy), HCL Technologies, told Business Standard.

Though the two partners are still working on the valuation of the joint venture company, DSL Software is expected to be valued at more than its turnover of $72 million, which it clocked last year.

"Out of the nearly $568 million revenues of HCL Technologies, about 15 per cent comes from DSL Software. Besides, it leads the banking and financial services practice of the company," said a market source.

When asked about the valuation of the venture, Adhikari said: "We have built a great value in the venture. The company is one of the leaders in the space."

According to the terms of the acquisition, Deutsche Bank will get a stake in HCL Technologies for its existing stake in DSL Software. Once Deutsche bank has been bought out of the venture, DSL Software will become a part of HCL Technologies and will be called HCL Technologies Banking and Financial Services.

The Bangalore-based DSL Software has about 2,700 professionals on its rolls. The financial services sector is a fast growing one, with over 35 per cent of Indian software services exports coming from this segment.

According to various estimates, the IT services spending by the financial services sector globally is about $130 billion, growing at about 12 per cent annually.

HCL Technologies has been acquiring the joint venture partner's stake in various ventures. The company is in the process of acquiring the stake of European communications major British Telecom in its business process outsourcing venture. It will also buy out Jones Apparel from HCL Jones.

The company has also recently exited from HCL Perot Systems by divesting its stake to Perot Systems for about $105 million.