Citi continues to divest stake in Polaris

CHENNAI: Citi completed its third round of selling mid-tier software company Polaris Software Lab���s shares in the open market on Wednesday. In the last week, OrbiTech, an entity controlled by Citi has sold off over 7% of its holding in the company.

According to bulk deals trade details on the NSE, OrbiTech sold 6.88 lakh shares at Rs 151.23 apiece on Wednesday. Last week, it sold 13.33 lakh shares at Rs 150.97 a share on Thursday, followed by a bulk deal on Friday where it sold 12.9 lakh shares at Rs 152.48 a share. Citi holds a 43.33% stake in Chennai-based Polaris as of June 30, 2009.After these transactions, Citi���s stake in the company is down by 3%.

Citi holds a stake in Polaris through two entities-OrbiTech and Citibank A/C OrbiTech Ltd. Apart from these, there is also an entity called OrbiTech Employees Welfare Trust, which has 1.41% in Polaris.

When contacted, Polaris CFO R Srikanth said the transactions were a profit booking exercise rather than a strategic move. ���Since the deal has been done through the open market we do not know the identity of the buyers yet. It is mostly an FII. It is positive because some investor diversification is happening.���