Baring Asia buys 30% stake in India's NIIT Technologies

Baring will acquire its initial position through the purchase of 18.8 million shares at INR1,394 apiece. The seller is management training services provider NIIT, the company’s former parent. It also plans to offer the same price per share for an additional 26%, which would take the total investment to INR49 billion. 

NIIT Technologies' stock jumped 2% following the announcement and closed on April 5 at INR1335. It has traded in a range of INR1,150-1,350 since the start of the year.

“Baring Private Equity Asia’s association will support the existing management team in capturing the opportunities in an increasingly digital world,” Vijay Thadani, a managing director at NIIT, said in a statement.

Concurrent with the Baring investment, NIIT Technologies has confirmed it will acquire a Wishworks, an IT consulting company that helps corporate clients digitize operations and incorporate big data-related technologies. It will take a 53% stake initially and plans to acquire the remainder over a two-year period through payouts based on financial performance.

NIIT Technologies provides various automation and analytics support across three verticals, including financial services, insurance, and travel and transportation. The company has more than 10,000 employees and a client base across the Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Americas. Earlier this year, it entered a partnership to develop cloud technology with Microsoft.

Baring is investing via its seventh pan-regional fund, which reached a first close last year of $4.5 billion. The firm set a target of $5.5 billion for buyout and growth investments in 15-25 companies with enterprise valuations of $500 million or larger.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Technology
• Support services
• Expansion
• India
• Baring Private Equity Asia
• buyout
• PIPE