Infosys to sell Panaya, Skava subsidiaries

Software major Infosys on Friday decided to sell off its subsidiaries Panaya and Skava, which includes Kallidus, by March 2019.

"The company has initiated identification and evaluation of potential buyers for Panaya and Skava following a strategic review of its businesses," said the IT major in a statement.

Accordingly, the company has reclassified the combined assets of Rs 2,060 crore ($316 million) and liabilities of Rs 324 crore ($50 million) of the two subsidiaries and presented as held for sale.

"On reclassification, an impairment loss of Rs 118 crore ($18 million) in Panaya has been recognised in the consolidated profit and loss for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2017-18," it said in the statement.

The company has also written off Panaya's investment valued at Rs 589 crore ($90 million) in its standalone financial statement.

The acquisition of the US-based Panaya for $200 million in February 2015 rocked the company in 2017 after its co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy red flagged lack of transparency in the deal and accused the previous board of compromising on governance issues during its negotiations.

The controversial deal came to light after an anonymous whistleblower alleged that the company's executives had personal interests in buying it, also resulted in the exit of its first non-promoter chief executive Visha Sikka in August 2017.

The automation technology firm was bought to offer large-scale enterprise software management as a service to the company's global clients.

Co-founder and non-Executive Chairman of Infosys Board Nandan Nilekani also found no wrongdoing in Panaya's acquisition, reaffirming findings of external investigations that there was no merit in the allegations.

As indicated on his return to Infosys on August 24, Nilekani reviewed the investigations into complaints by anonymous whistleblowers on Panaya buy.

Skava, acquired in June 2015 for $120 million in an all-cash deal, offers digital solutions, including mobile commerce and in-store shopping experience to large retail clients.

--IANS

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