Toll management company MEP Toll Road today said it has initiated discussions with a clutch of private equity firms to dilute its holding by 10-15% by September this year. The divestment of stake to private equity players will be followed by listing of the company in domestic bourses towards the end of current fiscal, MEP Toll Road chairman and managing director Jayant Mahiskar told PTI. “We are already in discussion with 2-3 overseas private equity players for diluting 10-15% in the company. But, we are yet to zoom in on any. However, a deal will be signed within the second quarter of current fiscal,” Mahiskar said. He, however, declined to give further details, saying, “We have signed a non-disclosure agreement and are bound by the agreement.” […]

Private security company SIS Security Services will soon offload 10% stake for around R500 crore. Top contenders are global private equity (PE) and hedge fund firm DE Shaw, which is already invested in the company, and PE major JP Morgan. The deal may rank as the biggest in the private security field. When contacted, SIS Security Services COO Rituraj Sinha refused to divulge details of PE players who may be the main contenders for taking up the stake but said that the deal would be announced soon. He added, “The funds will be primarily used to acquire companies in India, Middle East and Southeast Asia.” DE Shaw & Co already has a 14% stake in the company, having bought into SIS in 2008. The funds it brought in were used to acquire security company Chubb Australia. […]

Tata Technologies, an engineering solutions and IT product developer, on Tuesday said it has raised about Rs 141 crore by selling 13.04 per cent equity stake to Alpha TC Holdings and Tata Capital Growth Fund (TCGF)I. “With this investment (USD 30 million), we will continue to aggressively grow our business and provide our customers with better, more innovative products,” said Patrick McGoldrick, Tata Technologies Managing Director and CEO in a statement. […]

Chennai-based financial technology company Polaris Software Lab Ltd. has entered the cloud computing space by acquiring an 85.3% stake in IdenTrust Inc., a U.S.-based services provider offering digital authentication services to banks, for an undisclosed sum. IdenTrust was started in 1999 with 20 banks including Citigroup, Bank of America, Chase, Barclays, HSBC, and Deutsche as shareholders. It will now have Zions Bancorporation, a U.S. bank, as a minority shareholder. “With increasing dependency on the internet, security solutions that incorporate identity management are a key element in any cloud offering,” said Polaris Chairman and Chief Executive Arun Jain in a statement to the press. The company said this is a step toward its goal of becoming a one-stop shop for all financial technology needs. […]

Bangalore-based operations and business support systems provider Subex is mulling sale of 60% stake to a strategic investor. Global management consulting and technology services firm Accenture is learnt to be the frontrunner for buying the stake in a deal that could be in the range of R500-600 crore. Though both the firms denied any such development, people privy to the matter told FE that Subex is in fact in talks with various players in the industry including the Indian arm of Accenture for the stake sale. If the deal materialises, it would be fifth such deal in the technology segment in India in 2011. […]