Wipro acquires majority stake in Aggne Global for $66 mn, trades down 2%

Wipro shares shed 2 percent in the early trade on February 14 after the company acquired the majority stake in insurtech firm Aggne Global Inc and its Hyderabad-based affiliate Aggne Global IT Services for $66 million.

At 9:23am, Wipro was quoting at Rs 500.00, down Rs 12.15, or 2.37 percent, on the BSE.

The company has picked up 60 percent stake with an option to purchase the rest over a period of time. With this investment, Wipro becomes a majority shareholder in Aggne, which brings to Wipro a highly sought-after and unique set of capabilities and Intellectual Property (IP) in the property and casualty (P&C) insurance space.

The combined capabilities of Wipro and Aggne will help deliver enhanced value, faster speed-to-market, and differentiated services to clients in the P&C sector. The transaction is expected to be completed at the latest by February 14.

Foreign research house Morgan Stanley has kept the 'underweight' rating on the stock with a target of Rs 460 per share. The research firm sees this as a tuck-in acquisition, expected to strengthen capabilities in insurance sector, particularly its P&C core system implementation in area of duck creek.

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In January, the company has signed a definitive agreement to subscribe for a 14 percent equity share in Huoban Energy 11, for Rs 3.17 crore.

The company had reported a 12 percent year-on-year (YoY) fall in net profit at Rs 2,694 crore for the third quarter of the current financial year, while its consolidated revenue came in at Rs 22,205 crore, down 4.4 percent.