HCL Tech, Sumeru Equity Partners to acquire Actian Corporation for $330 mn

India's fourth largest IT services firm HCL Technologies and Sumeru Equity Partners (SEP) will acquire US-based Actian Corporation in a USD 330-million all-cash deal.

HCL will own 80 per cent stake in the joint venture that has been formed, with SEP holding 19.5 per cent and Rohit De Souza (Actian Corporation CEO) owning 0.5 per cent, HCL said in a regulatory filing.

It added that the JV entity will acquire 100 per cent stake in Actian Corporation from its shareholders. The acquisition is expected to be completed by August this year.

The acquisition will be funded by HCL, making an equity contribution of USD 164 million and debt of USD 125 million. SEP and De Souza will contribute USD 40 million and USD 1 million, respectively, the filing said.

Through this deal, HCL will "own high margin, recurring revenue IP business in data analytics, integration and management products," it said.

Palo Alto-based Actian offers hybrid data management, cloud integration, and analytics solutions. Incorporated in 2005, it has over 275 employees and had registered revenue of USD 107.1 million in 2017.

It has a global customer base with business operations primarily in the US, the UK, Germany, Japan and Australia.

"Actian will play a critical role in enhancing HCL's Mode 3 offerings in data management products and platforms. Actian's products when combined with HCL's Mode 2 solution offerings Cloud Native, Digital and Analytics, and IoTWorks, will be a powerful proposition to harness the power of hybrid data," HCL Technologies President and CEO C Vijayakumar said.

Actian will continue to operate as a separate entity within the HCL Technologies ecosystem, led by current CEO and President, Rohit De Souza.

HCL Technologies as the majority stakeholder of this strategic acquisition will have majority representation on the Actian board of directors, and SEP MD George Kadifa and Sanjeet Mitra will also join the board at closing.