GE to sell Genpact shares worth $100 mn

NYSE listed Genpact, a leading business process outsourcing firm, today announced that GE has agreed to sell, in a private transaction, approximately $100 million (around Rs 400 crore) of Genpact common shares to an affiliate of a limited partner in one of Genpact's other shareholders.

The shares sold will be subject to the same lock-up agreement that GE entered into with the underwriters of Genpact's initial public offering and, consequently, no shares will enter the public trading market as a result of the transaction.

"Genpact is a good partner and continues to provide valuable support to our operations. This transaction is simply a part of our normal and on-going portfolio management activities and we look forward to a long and productive relationship," a GE spokesman said.

Pramod Bhasin, president & CEO, Genpact, said: "We welcome this diversification of our ownership base. We continue to have an excellent relationship with GE both as a client and as a shareholder. Our continuing significant revenue growth from GE is a reflection on the quality of this relationship."

Some of the other shareholders in the company are Oak Hill Capital Partners, and General Electric Company.

The company was listed on NYSE earlier this year. It had come out with an initial public offering (IPO) of 35.3 million common shares, priced at $14 a share, which enabled the company to raise $494 million. Genpact has also granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 5,294,118 shares to cover over-allotments.

With the listing, the share of GE in its former captive has come down to 23 per cent from the earlier 28 per cent, while that of General Atlantic, and Oak Hill Capital Partners has also been reduced to 26 per cent each, making a total of 52%.