Private equity stake sale buzz hits Hexaware

Hexaware Technologies fell, the biggest decliner on the BSE-500 Index, on speculation that General Atlantic will sell its stake in the Indian computer services provider.

Reports of a delay in General Atlantic's plans to sell its stake in Indian software-maker Patni Computer Systems Ltd. prompted some investors to speculate that the private equity firm may sell its stake in Hexaware, Sushil Sharma, an analyst at Batlivala & Karani Securities, said in a phone interview in Mumbai today. Sharma rates the stock as a "hold.'' Hexaware shares fell Rs 4.95, or 3.7 per cent, to Rs 127.35 at the close of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange, its biggest decline in more than six weeks.

"We do not have any information about GA planning to sell its stake in Hexaware,'' Hexaware Chief Financial Officer Rajesh Ghonasgi said in an e-mail.

General Atlantic's decision to swap 1.06 million preferential shares for US securities on September 11 ``marks the confidence shown by the investor in the company's management and business,'' he said. General Atlantic, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, owns 14.7 percent of Hexaware, Ghonasgi said today.

Abhay Havaldar, General Atlantic's managing director in India, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.