Baring Private Equity Asia has decided to sell Hexaware Technologies Ltd, six months after taking the mid-tier IT services firm private.
The Hong Kong-based buyout fund has initiated the process by mandating investment banks Barclays and JP Morgan to find buyers at a valuation of Rs 18,500 crore – Rs 22,200 crore ($2.5-$3 billion).
Hexaware primarily focusses on cloud, automation and customer experience transformation for companies in banking, insurance, healthcare, travel and transformation.
Even during the pandemic in calendar year 2020, which saw the travel vertical getting impacted significantly, the company clocked good growth.
The sale process is expected to be formally launched in the coming weeks though feelers have already gone out to several PE funds like Apax Partners, Bain Capital, Carlyle and KKR, as well as global technology players like Fujitsu, as cloud migration and digital services become key themes for corporations amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Baring acquired a controlling stake in Hexaware in 2013 from promoter Atul Nishar and PE firm General Atlantic, followed by acquisition of shares from public shareholders, which took its holding to 71.25%.
Baring spent around Rs 2,850 crore ($465 million) for the acquisition. Last September, it began taking the company private through a reverse book building delisting process, spending around Rs 5,400 crore to buy the entire 37.9% stake from public shareholders. Most saw that as the first step for an eventual sale.
Currently, HT Global IT Solutions, the holding company of Baring, owns around 91.6% in Hexaware, while minority shareholders who did not tender their shares and employees own the rest.
