i-flex solutions buys Mantas for $122.6 million

Sufia Tippu
Tuesday, 15 August 2006 15:29

IT Industry - Market

India-based banking and insurance software company, i-flex solutions, has bought anti money laundering software provider Mantas for $122.6 million.
 
In 2004, Mantas Inc. and i-flex signed an agreement to jointly offer anti-money laundering (AML) solutions to financial institutions worldwide. Mantas provides analytic applications for the global financial services and telecommunications markets.

Last year, Oracle purchased a 52% stake in i-flex, for about $800 million.

The present deal will be financed by a sale of a further 4.4 million shares of i-flex to Oracle for $125 million, subject to shareholder approval resulting in an increase over 55% of Oracle stake in i-flex.

Mantas’ anti-money laundering and compliance software will complement i-flex’s banking software, which helps customers comply with the European financial standards of the Basel norms, and a niche business analytics product called Reveleus.

Last year, i-flex bought Toronto-based Castek Software, an insurance software developer.

Today, over half of i-flex’s revenues come from its flagship product, Flexcube. The product has undergone several changes since it was created as an in-house product for Citibank.

Citibank spun off the division where Flexcube originated into a separate company called Citicorp Information Technology Industries in 1992, holding about 43% of the equity. In 2000, the company changed its name to i-flex and was listed on the Indian bourses and became one of the few Indian success stories in the product space.

The U.S. now accounts for 40% of the company’s export revenues, while Europe contributes about 20%.