Hukku: Westward ho!

Mumbai, Aug. 14: i-flex solutions has acquired Mantas, a US-based anti-money laundering firm, for $122.6 million.

i-flex will fund the all-cash deal through a preferential allotment of its shares to Oracle. The preferential allotment will take Oracle’s stake in i-flex to 55 per cent from 52.5 per cent. The shares will be allotted at Rs 1,307.50, which has been computed according to the guidelines of the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

“The acquisition of Mantas will give us access to a leading behaviour detection and compliance solution along with expertise in the financial services industry,” said Rajesh Hukku, chairman & managing director of i-flex solutions. i-flex is a leading technology solutions provider to the global financial services industry.

The deal is likely to be concluded in 60 days. Mantas employs 150 people and has a presence in more than 100 countries. The company's revenue stood at $35 million during the last fiscal and it has grown 25 per cent during the first quarter of 2006 compared with the year-ago period.

Mantas is likely to add to i-flex's bottomline from the third quarter of the financial year 2006-07. Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, Mantas caters to top global financial institutions, including ABN Amro, Barclays, Bear Stearns, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch.

The Mantas Behaviour Detection Platform is the industry's most comprehensive solution for detecting risk, enhancing customer relationships and addressing regulatory requirements in the anti-money laundering, trading and broker compliance areas.

“Our joint efforts will help our clients leverage their risk and compliance activities and drive process improvements,” said Simon Moss, chief executive officer of Mantas.

“i-flex solutions’s leadership in risk and compliance in financial institutions, combined with Mantas’s expertise in financial services compliance, particularly in institutional brokerage and capital markets, offer the most comprehensive solution to our clients,’ added Moss.

“Risk and compliance requirements are getting increased attention at boardrooms around the world. These organisations are seeking broader and more functionally rich offerings to serve their current and emerging risk and compliance needs,” said Hukku.

“In a market, which is estimated to grow to $20 billion by 2008, we have strong credentials in risk and compliance with our award-winning Reveleus solution suite. The solution is being adopted by global Tier 1 organisations such as Citigroup, Lloyds TSB, Wachovia and Wells Fargo,” he said.

“With mantas we are completing the whole footprint of risk and compliance as it complements and strengthens i-flex's Reveleus’s risk and compliance portfolio,” said Hukku.

“We see great synergies emerging from this acquisition. Apart from offering complementing solutions, i-flex solutions’s broad market reach and distribution channels will help accelerate Mantas’ growth by providing access to leading financial institutions in new markets,” said Ross.

i-flex has more than 660 customers in over 120 countries, while Mantas’ products are used by more than 5,000 finance professionals in more than 100 countries.