Citi continues to divest stake in Polaris

Citi completed another round of selling mid-tier software company Polaris Software Lab’s shares in the open market on Friday. In the last few months, OrbiTech, an entity controlled by Citi has sold off over 5% of its stake in the company.

According to bulk deal trade details on the NSE, OrbiTech sold 10.29 lakh shares at Rs 168.56 apiece on Friday. As of 30 June 2009, Citi held a 43.33% stake in Chennai-based Polaris but after a series of open market transactions, that stake is down by 5.2% to 38.13%.

Citi holds a stake in Polaris through two entities-OrbiTech and Citibank A/C OrbiTech Ltd. Apart from these, there is also an entity called OrbiTech Employees Welfare Trust, which has 1.41% in Polaris.

When contacted, Polaris CFO R Srikanth said that the transactions were a positive sign as it meant more diversification in terms of investors. “There is active buying happening at the Polaris counter, there is good interest,” he said. Mr Srikanth however added that the identity of buyers was not known.