Apax invests $450m in India’s IBS Software, Blackstone exits
Apax Partners has agreed to pay USD 450m for a significant minority stake in India’s IBS Software, a travel and logistics industry supplier, enabling an exit for The Blackstone Group.
Blackstone acquired a 35% position for USD 170m in December 2015. This facilitated an exit for General Atlantic, which invested USD 60m in 2007 for an unspecified stake.
It is not clear if Apax is acquiring Blackstone’s entire stake. IBS Software founder V. K. Mathews will remain the majority shareholder. The transaction is expected to close within the second quarter.
IBS was founded in 1997 to provide a scalable, cloud-native software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to aviation, cruise, hospitality, and logistics companies globally. It helps accelerate innovation and drive efficiency in cargo handling, flight operations, passenger services, loyalty programs, cruise operations, energy and resource logistics, and hospitality distribution platforms.
The company employs 4,000 staff across 14 offices. This compares to 3,000 in nine offices at the time of Blackstone’s investment. The Asia footprint includes seven bases in India, plus one in each of Japan, Australia, and Korea. Amit Dixit, head of Asia private equity at Blackstone, described the company as a global leader in travel SaaS and one of the largest enterprise SaaS companies in India.
“Having closely monitored the travel software sector over the last several years, IBS Software stood out to us as uniquely positioned in the industry, offering a next-gen software suite that we believe is truly unrivalled,” Jason Wright, a partner at Apax, said in a statement.
“Over the last two decades, IBS Software has invested in products, innovation, and culture, while continuing to scale the business. We believe there is tremendous growth potential ahead and look forward to leveraging our software experience to help IBS Software become a world leader in travel and logistics software.”
Apax, which closed its latest global fund on USD 11bn in 2021, invests across four core sectors: internet and consumer, technology, services, and healthcare.
India has been an important geography historically, although investment activity has slowed considerably in the recent term due to concerns around valuations. Apax made no investment in the country in 2022 but expects to see an uptick over the course of 2023 notwithstanding a potential spike in competition.
“GDP growth should see better underlying growth in companies because they’re tapping into domestic demand, so we would expect to see more deal flow and more scaled companies in the India large-cap space, or the mid-cap space from the global perspective,” Shashank Singh, head of India at Apax, told AVCJ in December.
“But if India becomes a beacon of light for global investors in a tough macro environment, we will have to contend with a lot more hammers looking for a nail.”
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