Electra Private Equity has announced it is selling its 23% interest in Zensar Technologies Limited, the listed Indian IT services business, to a company backed by funds advised by Apax Partners, the private equity firm.
On completion of the transaction, Electra will receive proceeds of approximately £84m (based on current exchange rates). Inclusive of dividends and proceeds from the sale of shares, this will generate a return of 19x on original cost over the 18 years of the investment; an IRR of 18%. This will represent an uplift of £12.4m, or 18%, on the valuation of Zensar at 31 March 2015, implying an increase in diluted NAV per share of 31 pence.
Headquartered in Pune, India, Zensar is a leading IT services company and provides services to leading global clients in the Manufacturing, Retail and Hi-Tech verticals. Zensar has end-to-end capabilities in Oracle implementation and maintenance and is the industry leader in e-commerce solutions. The company employs over 8,000 people at 29 locations around the globe.
Electra originally invested US$9m 1997 in the equity of an unquoted subsidiary of a Mumbai-listed manufacturer of computer hardware. In 2001 the listed parent closed down its operations and the unlisted subsidiary performed a reverse merger and was then renamed Zensar Technologies. This resulted in Electra owning shares in the listed entity. Hugh Mumford, Managing Partner of Electra Partners, said: “Zensar has been an excellent investment for Electra’s shareholders having generated a 19x return.”
ELTA : Electra sells Zensar Technologies stake