Quess Corp up 14%; buys facility mgmt biz of Manipal Integrated

Moneycontrol Bureau

Business services provider Quess Corp shares hit a record high of Rs 702.20, up 14 percent intraday Tuesday after the company acquired facility management business of Manipal Integrated and 74 percent stake in Inticore VJP.

"Quess Corp has entered into agreements to acquire facility management and catering business of Manipal Integrated Services and has approved the draft scheme of arrangement for such demerger of the facility management and catering businesses to Quess," the Bengaluru-based company said in its filing.

With this agreement, the company will provide facility management, catering and security services to all Manipal Education and Medical Group affiliated entities for a minimum period of five years.

The company will initially invest Rs 220 crore by subscribing to compulsory convertible preference shares of Manipal Integrated Services (MIS). Subsequently, the facility management and catering businesses of Manipal Integrated Services will be demerged into Quess that will issue 71.50 lakh shares to shareholders of MIS.

MIS runs the facility management, food services and hostels business of the Manipal Education and Medical Group, in addition to servicing third party clients.

Quess Corp said with a headcount in excess of 17,000 associates, the facility management and catering businesses are expected to close FY17 with estimated revenue of Rs 426.5 crore.

In addition, the company also acquired 74 percent stake in Inticore VJP Advance Systems, the engineering design & solutions subsidiary of Vee J Pee Aluminium Foundry, a Coimbatore-based engineering and manufacturing company. It will pay Rs 3.5 crore for this stake.

Quess approved issue of non-convertible debentures and other debt instruments of the company for an aggregate amount upto Rs 150 crore.

At 14:47 hours IST, the stock was quoting at Rs 682.80, up Rs 68.15, or 11.09 percent amid high volumes on the BSE.Posted by Sunil Shankar Matkar