Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala plans to sell stake in Aptech: report
05 Dec 2011
Aptech Ltd's largest shareholder, billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, is planning to sell his 35.79 per cent stake in the IT education services company, The Times of India today reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Jhunjhunwala, who acquired the stake in 2005 for Rs81 crore from Chennai-based Kalpathi Suresh, founder of IT training firm - SSI, has hired investment bank Avendus Capital to handle the sale, said the paper.
Aptech's current market capitalisation is about Rs460 crore and Jhunjhunwala, currently Aptech's chairman, is seeking around Rs600 crore, or about 14 times its operating profit.
Jhunjhunwala bought Aptech's shares for Rs56 a share in July 2005 or for Rs81 crore, and the company's share price has risen by about 72 per cent since then to close at Rs94.50 last Friday.
Avendus is in talks with potential suitors, including TeamLease, a staffing company with interest in vocational education, and Manipal Universal Learning, said the paper.
Aptech, founded in 1986 by Atul Nishar, is a global education major, having a network of over 1,000 centres spread over 40 countries,