Carlyle buys 10 per cent stake in Infotech Enterprises for Rs 210 crore

HYDERABAD: US-based private equity firm Carlyle on Wednesday bought a 9.96 per cent stake in the Hyderabad-based IT firm Infotech Enterprises in the open market at a price of Rs 190 a share, spending a total of Rs 210 crore. Three institutional investors - Kotak India Fund, American Funds Insurance and Small Cap World Funds - were the key sellers of the holding acquired by Carlyle.

Reacting to this bulk transaction, Infotech's stock hit a high of Rs 198.75, up by 8.45 per cent, before closing at Rs 188.05, or a gain of 2.62 per cent, on the BSE, the day the exchange's benchmark Sensex gained 129 points to close at 17,489 points.

The deal makes Carlyle the third-largest investor in the IT and engineering services firm after Mauritius-based Carrier International, which holds 11.63 per cent, and GA Global Investments that owns about 10.49 per cent. Carlyle's investment in Infotech comes even as large-cap stocks flounder due to the repercussions of the Euro crisis.

Carlyle, which has $159 billion in assets under management globally, has invested $800 million in India so far, including investments in HDFC and India Infoline. An arm of the private equity group First Carlyle Ventures had invested 60 crore in Kerala-based South Indian bank for a 2 per cent stake through bulk deal on BSE in May this year.