Zensar eyes more M&As as Apax Partners buys 23.23 percent stake

Mid-tier IT firm Zensar Technologies said that it can now look at more mergers and acquisitions (M&As) after private equity firm Apax Partners on Friday bought out Electra Partner's 23.23 percent stake for Rs.859 crore.

"The stake buy out by APax is a good opportunity for us and we can now look at making more M&As given Apax's track record in the space," Zensar's chief executive Ganesh Natarajan told IANS over the phone from abroad.

Zensar, which is majorly-owned by Harsh Goenka's tyres-to-retail conglomerate RPG Group, saw the Electra Partners' sale come nearly two decades. RPG Group continues to be the promoter and the largest shareholder in the company with a 48 percent stake.

"The association with Apax is a welcome development and is expected to bring significant value to the company. Zensar is a key focus area for the RPG Group, and we aim to scale the company into a Top-10 Indian technology services business in the medium-term, through a combination of organic growth and M&A," said Harsh Goenka.

"Zensar looks forward to engaging with Apax with a renewed focus on core differentiated capabilities and key accounts to drive the next wave of growth and value creation," he added.

Zensar has been making investments in acquiring capabilities in the digital segment. Last year, it acquired ecommerce technology firm Professional Access to help scale its digital business.

"Zensar is a leading business in the technology services space with differentiated capabilities in retail, manufacturing, and Oracle and we look forward to working alongside the company and the RPG Group to drive transformational growth over our investment period," said Apax Partners India managing director Shashank Singh.