Blackstone invests $170m in India's IBS, General Atlantic exits

Blackstone is said to have an approximately 35% interest in IBS, having bought out General Atlantic and a number of individual shareholders. General Atlantic invested $60 million in the business in 2007.

IBS is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company with a particular focus on travel, transportation and logistics. For example, the company provides IT systems for airline passenger services, cargo operations, flight and crew operations, airport operations, and aircraft maintenance engineering.

It has nearly 3,000 professionals across nine offices and a client base that includes airlines, airports, cruise lines, hotels, travel agents, and oil and gas companies. V.K. Mathews, IBS' founder and executive chairman, said he saw huge synergies with Blackstone's portfolio of technology and travel and hospitality assets.

"IBS is a rare SaaS company with intellectual property in the airline, travel and hospitality verticals across the globe. We are impressed by the company's management team and its track record of delivering mission critical solutions to marquee global customers," Amit Dixit, senior managing director and co-head of India private equity at Blackstone, said in a statement.

This is the private equity firm's second India IT investment in three months. It agreed to buy a majority stake in Serco Group's India-based business process outsourcing (BPO) operations for GBP250 million ($387 million). The major asset in the deal is the former Intelenet business, which Blackstone sold to Serco in 2011.

The IBS investment is expected to close within a month, pending regulatory approvals.

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• Topics
• Technology
• Exits
• Expansion
• South Asia
• Technology
• India
• The Blackstone Group
• General Atlantic
• Growth capital
• Exit