Phaneesh Murthy appointed CEO of Patni

IT firm iGATE on Thursday announced the successful completion of Patni acquisition and appointment of Phaneesh Murthy (in picture) as CEO of Patni.

Consequently, Jeya Kumar has stepped down as the CEO of Patni.

iGATE entered into purchase agreements on January 10 this year to acquire a majority stake in Patni Computers

The transaction marks completion with the buyout of the principal stockholders, Narendra Patni, Ashok Patni, Gajendra Patni and General Atlantic, and 20 per cent mandatory tender offer (MTO) to the public shareholders.

The MTO was fully subscribed giving iGATE a majority stake of approximately 83 per cent in Patni Computer Systems.

Both iGATE and Patni would continue to exist as separate listed entities and would work together on an integration exercise with the advice of professional consultants and advisors, iGATE said in a statement.

"The two companies will operate on an independent basis and in the best interests of their respective stakeholders with a view to building value for both sets of shareholders," it said.

As

a consequence of the acquisition, the Board at Patni has been reconstituted.

Jai Pathak will be board chairman, Phaneesh Murthy the CEO. Shashank Singh, co-head of Apax India and Goran Lindahl, Member of iGATE board are the new directors, with existing members Vimal Bhandari and Arun Duggal continuing as independent directors.

Surjeet Singh, CFO, Patni, would continue in office until May 31, 2011 and then step down when the board expects to appoint a new financial officer.

Announcing the acquisition, Phaneesh Murthy said, "Successful completion of the transaction was our single focus over the last four months and I am very excited to formally move from integration planning to integration execution between the two companies."

"Our intent is to generate synergies out of the integration and, with iGATE's differentiated iTOPS based Business Outcomes model coupled with Patni's micro-vertical focus, deliver value to our customers," he added.

"We believe there are a number of cross selling opportunities across 360 clients of iGATE and Patni and will focus on improving service levels and deepening our engagement with existing clients.