Polaris Financial to demerger, division of assets, people soon

City-based Polaris Financial Technology Ltd Tuesday announced the demerger of its products business into a separate company, which will soon start with the process of dividing the assets and people between the two companies.

In a statement issued here, Polaris, a financial sector software developer and services company, said a scheme of demerger will be filed with regulatory authorities. Subject to the approvals, the products company will be known as Intellect Design Arena Ltd (IDA).

The existing Polaris will continue with its software services business.

Speaking to IANS, chief financial officer S.Swaminathan said: "The swap ratio is 1:1. The process of dividing the assets and the people will be worked out."

He said the products company would have around 3,000 people out of the company's total 12,000.

As the risk profile of products and services businesses are different, Polaris Financial has decided to offer a special option to the shareholders of Intellect to exchange their shares in the proposed company for fully secured non-convertible debentures (NCD).

The NCDs will have a face value of Rs.42 with a coupon rate of 7.75 percent redeemable at par after 90 days.

To a question as to why the company did not resort to buy back option instead of redeemable NCDs, Swaminathan said: "The exit option is open for the shareholders as the shares of the new company will also be listed. As it is a vertical demerger, this option is given to the shareholders."

"This is a decisive step towards unlocking the potential of the company to respond to emerging opportunities in financial technologies in the coming decade. In fact, it is a win-win for customers, employees and investors alike," executive chairman Arun Jain was quoted as saying in the statement.