The Indian core processing software company i-flex solutions ltd. has agreed to buy the anti-money-laundering software vendor Mantas Inc.
i-flex, of Mumbai, announced the $122.6 million cash deal Monday. Its majority owner, Oracle Corp., is providing the money by investing $125 million to expand its 52.5% stake in i-flex to 55%.
Mantas, of Herndon, Va., offers Behavior Detection Platform, which can keep track of transactions at multiple business lines within a bank. Its customers include ABN Amro Holding NV, Barclays Capital, Charles Schwab Corp., Citigroup Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., and Credit Suisse.
i-flex offers its own line of compliance software through its Reveleus business unit, and S. Ramakrishnan, the chief executive of the unit said in an interview that Mantas is "highly complementary with our vision for risk and compliance."
i-flex plans to issue 4.45 million shares to Oracle priced at $28.07 per share. The deal must be approved by shareholders at a meeting Sept. 12. Oracle is also required by Indian law to offer to purchase as much as 20% of the remaining outstanding shares, at $31.67 each.
i-flex shares, which trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange, closed Monday at $29.64, up 4.46%.
Eva Weber, an analyst with the Boston research company Aite Group, said, "This deal makes sense because i-flex has a strong presence in banking, and virtually every bank has, or is looking at, anti-money-laundering solutions."
