The investment into IBS Software is second such foray into the technology sector with earlier one being with the BPO player Intelenet.
IBS Software, the Kerala-headquartered IT products company, has announced that it has received an investment of $170 million from PE major Blackstone. The transaction which is expected to close within a month will see Blackstone buying out the stake held by General Atlantic, which has been an investor in the company since 2007.
IBS, started operations in 1997, provides software products for the travel, transportation and logistics sectors. Today, it has a global presence with 3,000 employees with its key customers being airline companies, airports, cruise lines, travel distributors and oil & gas companies.
“Investment by a global tier-1 PE player is a true endorsement not only of the relevance and significance of what we do and our financial strength,” said, VK Mathews, founder and executive chairman of IBS Group. “We see a huge synergy from Blackstone’s portfolio of companies and their extensive experience in the travel and hospitality space.”
“IBS is a rare Software as a Service (SaaS) company with Intellectual property in the aviation, travel and hospitality verticals across the globe. We foresee significant growth opportunity for IBS, driven by company’s deep domain knowledge, its portfolio of products, and roster of referenceable customers,” said Amit Dixit, senior managing director and co-head of Private Equity in India at Blackstone.
There will be no material change in the majority shareholding pattern in IBS Software as the initial PE investor General Atlantic, which had invested in 2007, exits as a result of this transaction.
Blackstone, is a global private equity giant with approximately $334 billion in assets under management. It has been investing in India since 2005 and has made investments of over $5 billion in private equity and real estate. The investment into IBS Software is second such foray into the technology sector with earlier one being with the BPO player Intelenet.