Virtusa Corporation has agreed to acquire financial services technology provider Polaris Consulting & Services, for about $270 million.
The acquisition is intended to combine Virtusa’s domain experience in consumer and retail banking with the investment banking and corporate strength of Polaris, creating a more global service provider for the financial services sector.
It will also expand the market for both firms, and create an end-to-end portfolio of solutions for financial services firms.
Chairman and CEO of Virtusa, Kris Canekeratne, said: “Polaris brings a terrific team and an attractive, blue-chip client base to our organisation.”
He added: “We are enthusiastic about working with the Polaris team to build out our platform and offer clients a distinctive set of offerings.”
Jitin Goyal, CEO and executive director of Polaris, said: “Virtusa and Polaris share a common goal of delivering best-in-class solutions and the highest level of service excellence to our clients. I believe the combination of the two companies will enable us to better address our clients’ most critical business objectives.”
Based in Chennai, India, Polaris has about 6,500 employees in 12 development centres. As of the end of September, the firm had cash, cash equivalents and short- and long-term investments totalling about $44.8 million.
The deal includes the majority stake of 51.7 percent in Polaris, plus an unconditional mandatory open offer to purchase up to 26 percent of shares from public shareholders. The transaction is expected to close at the end of March 2016, subject to customary conditions and regulatory approval.
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