RP-Sanjiv Goenka group has announced plans to acquire 49.5 per cent stake in Firstsource Solutions Ltd — an IT BPO firm — for around Rs 400 crore. Firstsource was promoted by ICICI Bank and other ICICI-group companies.
The acquisition will be made through Spen Liq Private Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RP-Sanjiv Goenka group flagship CESC Ltd. Firstsource operates in verticals such as banking and financial services, healthcare and telecommunications and media.
The BPO firm will issue 22.69 crore equity shares (of Rs 10 face value) at Rs 12.10 to Spen Liq on a preferential basis. This will offer Spen Liq over 34.5 per cent stake at around Rs 274 crore.
Share purchase
In a separate arrangement, Spen Liq will acquire five per cent stake from each of the three major shareholders — ICICI (promoter), Aranda (step-down subsidiary of Temasek) and Metavante (Fidelity arm) — in Firstsource.
This will lead to acquisition of 15 per cent of the expanded capital base at around Rs 120 crore.
Open offer
The RP-Sanjiv Goenka group also announced a mandatory open offer for acquisition of another 19.8 crore equity shares — totalling 26 per cent of its expanded capital base — at Rs 12.20 a share.
The offer may cost Spen Liq a maximum of Rs 240 crore. Firstsource shares closed at Rs 14.24, up by nearly 8 per cent at BSE on Thursday.
Business Interests
“Given the current limitations of growth opportunities in the power sector, we have been looking at entering the BPO space for a while,” Sanjiv Goenka said.