iGate accepts delisting of Patni

Shares will be delisted at Rs 520, iGate holds 82% stake in Patni

US-based iGate Corporation today said it would offer Rs 520 per share to shareholders of Patni Computer Systems to get its Indian arm delisted from stock exchanges.

The company accepted the discovered price of Rs 520 determined through a reverse book building process using the electronic facility at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), in accordance with the Sebi regulations, iGate officials announced at a press conference here.

The public shareholders holding equity shares of the company were invited to submit bids via an offer that opened on March 28 and closed on March 30.

"We believe that the price of Rs 520 provides both a reasonable premium to the Patni shareholders and is still accretive to iGate shareholders while being strategic to the company," iGate Chief Executive Officer Phaneesh Murthy said.

"In addition, the better performance in Q4 2011 and the benefits of a streamlined corporate structure enabled us to arrange for some extra funding during the last week and raise the debt amount of $265 million," he said.

US-based iGate, along with private equity player Apax Partners, had acquired a majority stake in Patni for $1.2 billion and had paid Rs 503 per share in one of the largest IT deals in India.

After the acquisition, iGate has said it wants to delist the domestic company from the Indian bourses and New York Stock Exchange by mid-2012. Currently, iGate holds about 82% stake in Patni.

In January, IT firm Patni Computer Systems has received shareholders' approval for delisting the company from the Indian bourses and the New York Stock Exchange.

iGate said the remaining shareholders of Patni post the delisting will be able to offer their shares at the discovered price during the period of one year from the date of delisting.

A separate offer letter in this regard will be sent to the shareholders who have either not participated in the offer or whose shares have not been accepted under the offer.

The remaining shareholders of Patni post the listing would be able to offer their shares at the discovered price during the period of one year from the date of delisting.

iGate CFO Sujit Sircar said with the front-end and shared services successfully integrated, the company is confident that from here on, it would be able to integrate its delivery operations fully.

"The successful delisting will also set us up well for a possible downstream merger while also reducing costs of compliance and governance," Sircar added.