Japanese firms NTT Group and Fujitsu Corp and L&T Infotech, subsidiary of engineering major L&T, are believed to be in a stiff contest to acquire investment firm General Atlantic’s 18% stake in Patni Computer. “The Japanese firms are getting aggressive for this deal,” a source close to the development told DNA.
L&T Infotech, which earlier fought a stiff bidding war for Satyam, is reportedly looking at investing $150-200 million for acquisition of firms.General Atlantic will open bids for selling its 18% stake in Patni Computer Systems in two weeks, CNBC-TV18 reported on Friday. Five bidders have offered to acquire its stake for $200-220 million, it said.
The agency that represents General Atlantic in India refused to comment, saying it does not speak on future investments. Sources also named International Business Machines and Dell Perot Systems among parties that have approached Patni’s promoters for acquiring stake in the company.
While General Atlantic is reportedly seeking a 10% premium to the current market price, the Patni promoters — brothers Narendra Kumar, Gajendra Kumar and Ashok Kumar — who collectively hold around 48% in the IT services company, are said to be seeking a premium of around 37% to the current market price.
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