Global private equity fund General Atlantic is in advanced talks to purchase a stake of about 74% in India’s largest share registry company Karvy Computershare for roughly Rs 1,500 crore, two people with direct knowledge of the plan said.
Australian share registry company Computershare, which owns half the company, will sell its entire stake while Indian partner and Karvy Group owner C Parthasarathy will sell around 24%, the people said.
“General Atlantic has signed an exclusivity agreement with the promoters of the company after it emerged as the highest bidder for the controlling stake, beating its global peer Blackstone,” said one of the persons. ET first reported the deal to sell a majority stake on May 19.
Australian partner Computershare is contemplating the move as part of its global strategy of exiting non-core businesses. “It will sell its 50% stake through this transaction while C Parthasarathy will cede a significantly minority stake to give the incoming investor a larger stake and control of the board,” said one of the persons cited above. The deal once concluded, will value the company at around Rs 2,000-2,100 crore.
The spokesperson for General Atlantic declined to comment while the spokespersons for Karvy and Computershare did not respond to emailed queries. Founded in 1983 by Parthasarathy, Karvy Computershare is one of the largest share registries servicing over 70 million investor accounts across 1,300 issuers including banks, public sector units, and mutual funds. Karvy employs 4,000 people at 203 branches.
This will be the second time Karvy Group is looking to draw in PE investors for a stake in one of its businesses. ICICI Venture and Baring Asia invested in Karvy Stock Broking some time back. Karvy Computershare competes with CAMS, Link Intime, Big Share Services and Integrated Enterprises in the country.
