Virtusa completes $166M acquisition; becomes billion dollar company

Matt Volpini Kris Canekeratne, Chairman and CEO, Virtusa Corp., Westborough, has led the company towards the approximately $250M acquisition of an Indian IT company.

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By Sam Bonacci

Virtusa Corporation has completed a $166 million purchase of stock, giving it a majority interest in Polaris Consulting & Services and creating a global provider of IT services to the financial industry with annual revenue of $826 million.

The purchase of stock of the Indian IT company that serves the banking industry will drive the Westborough-based Virtusa to become a billion dollar company and the largest provider of financial technology services in the world, according to a release from the company. This acquisition combines Virtusa’s expertise in consumer and retail banking with Polaris' strength in corporate and investment banking. The combined company will be made up of over 19,000 employees and is now designated as the preferred vendor of CitiGroup, according to company officials.

The acquisition follows revenue and profit gains in the 2015 fiscal year that were followed by a recent stock drop of approximately 20 percent following first quarter 2016 performance that fell short of expectations.

Jitin Goyal will remain CEO of Polaris. Polaris has 7,700 employees and is headquartered in Chennai, India. It serves global clients through 12 development centers and has locations in Canada, the United Kingdom, the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. Its American headquarters are in Piscataway, N.J.

The purchase of approximately 51.7 percent of Polaris’ stock is the first part of the acquisition. Virtusa plans to purchase an additional 26 percent of outstanding public shares of Polaris for an estimated $86 million, bringing the overall purchase price for the company to over $250 million.