Patni Computer at the centre of stake battle?

Is the Patni family looking to exit Patni Computer Systems? Two private equity (PE) funds are learnt to have bid for controlling stakes in the mid-sized IT company.

Is the Patni family looking to exit Patni Computer Systems? Two private equity (PE) funds are learnt to have bid for controlling stakes in the mid-sized IT company.

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Though the company dubbed it as “market speculation”, industry sources said the promoters are keen to exit.

The promoters—Patni brothers and their family members—hold around 46% stake in the company while General Atlantic Partners, a PE fund, holds another 16%.

The two bidding parties are understood to be PE fund Carlyle-Advent along with Vivek Paul, the former vice chairman of Wipro-iGate, a software services firm; and PE fund Apax Partners.

Both the bidding parties have indicated a price of around R500 per share.

The shares of Patni Computer Systems fell 3% to close at R468.30 on BSE on Monday.