CCI Clears Pelipper HoldCo's Stake Acquisition in IBS Software Pte Limited

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approves acquisition of certain stake of IBS Software Pte Limited by Pelipper HoldCo SARL.

The proposed combination relates the acquisition of approximately 30% of the issued share capital on a fully diluted basis of IBS Software Pte Limited (Target) from Techware Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd., a portfolio company of Blackstone Inc. (Seller) by Pelipper HoldCo SARL (Acquirer).

The Acquirer is a special-purpose-vehicle indirectly wholly-owned by investment funds advised by Apax Partners LLP (AP). AP is a limited liability partnership incorporated under the laws of United Kingdom and the parent of a number of entities which provide investment advisory services to private equity funds investing in a range of industry sectors. The Acquirer is neither active in India nor does it have any planned business activities in India.

The Target is the parent company of IBS group of companies (Target Group), that is mainly active as a software vendor, predominantly for the aviation industry and the travel industry. The Target also provide IT services to its own existing customers, mainly aviation, tour & cruise, hospitality and energy resources industries.

The Target Group is primarily active as a provider of software solutions to the travel industry globally, managing mission-critical operations for customers in the aviation, tour & cruise, hospitality and energy resources industries. Target Group's solutions for the aviation industry cover fleet and crew operations, aircraft maintenance, passenger services, loyalty programs, staff travel & air-cargo management. The Target Group also runs a real-time B2B and B2C distribution platform providing hotel room inventory, rates, and availability to a global network of hospitality companies and channels. For the tour and cruise industry, the Target Group provides a comprehensive customer-centric, digital platform that covers onshore, online and on-board solutions.

In addition, the Target Group provides IT services largely to its existing external customer base, offering consulting, data migration, support for testing, building new apps. The Target Group’s Consulting and Digital Transformation business focuses on driving digital transformation initiatives of its customers, leveraging its domain knowledge, digital technologies and engineering excellence.