IGATE's acquisition will make Ashok Vemuri richer by $19 million

NEW YORK: IGATE's acquisition by French rival Capgemini will make its CEO Ashok Vemuri richer by over $ 19 million (about Rs 120 crore).

Yesterday, the French IT services company had said it would buy IGATE for $ 4 billion in an all-cash deal.

Both the firms in a joint statement said Capgemini would offer $ 48 for every IGATE share as part of the merger agreement, which was 4.7 per cent more than the New Jersey-based firm's Friday stock closing price of $ 45.85 on the Nasdaq.

Vemuri, who took over as IGATE's chief in 2013, holds 400,000 shares of the firm, according to NASDAQ. These shares at $ 48 apiece will give $ 19.2 million to the the former Infosys Sales Head.

Vemuri's earnings could have have been about 19 per cent higher if he had not sold his 18,750 shares of IGATE at $ 39.01 per share in February this year. Vemuri made around $ 731,000 (close to Rs 5 crore) from this share sale.

The earnings if $ 19.2 million will be in addition to his salary, bonus and other compensations, which could add up to over $ 2 million for the 2015 fiscal.

IGATE's acquisition will give Capgemini access to its clients such as General Electric and Royal Bank of Canada as well as boost its US-generated business to 30 per cent of its total revenue and make North America its largest market.

On the deal, Vemuri said it is the largest deal in the history of Indian IT services.

"Right now, it is difficult to say how will the final integration look like but we feel comfortable that we have been there, done that, and we probably think we know how to make transitions go smoothly," he said yesterday.