Shares of IT-giant Infosys Ltd gained in trade on Thursday, August 14, after the IT services announced it acquired a 75 percent stake in Versent Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Telstra Group, to form a joint venture aimed at accelerating AI-led cloud and digital transformation for Australian enterprises.
At 10 a.m., shares of Infosys were quoting Rs 1,449.3, higher by 1.6 percent on the NSE.
Telstra will retain the remaining 25 percent stake, while Infosys will have operational control of the Melbourne-headquartered firm. The deal is valued at AUD 233.25 million (over Rs 1,300 crore), including upfront and deferred consideration, excluding management incentives, and retention bonuses.
The JV will combine Telstra’s connectivity, Versent’s local digital engineering expertise, and Infosys’ global scale in AI and cloud. It will leverage Infosys’ AI platform Topaz, cloud services suite Cobalt, and cybersecurity capabilities from The Missing Link to deliver end-to-end transformation for large enterprises and government agencies across Australia.
In Japan-based brokerage Nomura's view, the deal strengthens Infosys’s partnership with Telstra which is a key account for the company in its telecommunications vertical. In the past two years, Infosys has announced key deals with Telstra (in FY24 and in FY25).
"The collaboration should help strengthen Infosys’s business presence in Australia, and help it target more private and government customers in the country, in our view," added the brokerage.
Morgan Stanley said that the deal is expected to enhance Infosys’ local presence and build on its existing partnership with Telstra. Further, the brokerage added that the price is reasonable, and with an assumed high single-digit margin, the JV should not dilute EPS.
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