Blackstone Group Inc. has shelved a planned sale of its majority stake in Indian IT outsourcing services provider Mphasis Ltd. over valuations, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The private equity firm rejected the two bidders in the final round as their offers didn’t meet its expectations, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. Blackstone has informed the interested parties that it has halted the sale, the person added.
Blackstone bought a 60.5% stake in Mumbai-listed Mphasis from Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. in 2016 at ₹430 ($5.87) per share. The private equity firm also made an open offer to acquire additional shares from other shareholders. As of the end of 2020, Blackstone owned about 56% in the tech firm.
The asset manager started identifying buyers for its majority stake in Mphasis a few months ago. It had held talks with prospective investors including Carlyle Group Inc. and Singapore state investment fund GIC Pte. Shares in Mphasis reached an all-time high at ₹1,788 each on Feb. 23. While the stock has receded from the peak, it’s still trading at around ₹1,600, almost four times above Blackstone’s offer price five years ago.
The Economic Times reported earlier on Monday that negotiations between Blackstone and Carlyle have hit an impasse over-valuations.
Representatives for Blackstone and Carlyle declined to comment, while a representative for GIC couldn’t immediately comment.