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IGate Accepts Patni Delisting Offer

By Reuters

  • 10 Apr 2012

IGate Corp said it accepted minority shareholders' offer of Rs 520 per share to delist its Indian unit Patni Computer Systems at a price higher than what it paid to buy a controlling stake in the company.

IGate, a maker of outsourcing software, bought a controlling stake in Patni for Rs 503 per share last year.

Last month, Reuters reported that Patni's minority shareholders were trying to get a better price and investors were betting that iGate will yield to shareholder pressure.

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Patni's minority shareholders were invited to submit bids via an offer that opened on March 28 and closed two days later.

"We believe that the price of Rs 520 provides both a reasonable premium to the Patni public shareholders and is still accretive to iGATE shareholders while being strategic to the company," iGate Chief Executive Phaneesh Murthy said in a statement.

Fremont, California-based iGate was trying to buy the 19 percent it does not already own for a lower price. The deal last year valued Patni at $1.2 billion.

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In March, iGate, which has a market value of nearly $1 billion, said it had raised a $215 million loan to buy the stake, indicating that it would only pay up to Rs 450 per share for the remaining Patni stake.

iGate said it has now raised a debt of $265 million to fund the share purchase.

Hedge fund Elliott Management Corp, an activist shareholder, owns an 11 percent stake in Patni.

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