6 Lessons I Wish I'd Known Before My Business Failed – Entrepreneur

It was easy to forget about the difficulties of building my business, Brooklyn Taco Co., when I was catering for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart every month. It was a great achievement to have my favorite celebrity craving my handcrafted tacos. Getting Stewart to laugh at one of my impersonations of a lunch lady was also pretty great. But the feeling of success faded quickly.

In February 2015, Brooklyn Taco closed. Immediately, I found myself obsessing over the whys and what-ifs.  Five years of experience building a food business taught me unforgettable lessons, but they were taught too late.

With absolute certainty, I know that Brooklyn Taco could have grown beyond a local brand if we had followed the principles below.

Related: How Working for 8 Failed Startups Catapulted My Success

1. Swallow your pride.

I had too much pride to share ownership of Brooklyn Taco with an outside investor. Brooklyn Taco had an offer in the beginning for around $400,000 for 80 percent. At the time, it seemed like I was selling off everything that my partner and I had built. Today, Brooklyn Taco is a dormant brand.  If you asked me if I would rather have 10 percent ownership in a prosperous company or half ownership in a failed company, I would take the former. Of course, giving up equity comes with its own risks, but take the time to think about it — just don’t assume that it’s best to keep your company entirely in your own hands.

2. Starting too small can be a curse.

Starting small seemed like the healthy approach. We created the concept with $30,000, including rent, equipment and branding. The plan was to slowly grow and use the earnings to fund a larger operation, but in reality, a space that is too small to generate substantial profits is like treading water until you are too tired to stay afloat and you go under. This is the exact situation that occurred with Brooklyn Taco. A small space with low rent seemed perfect until we realized we lacked sufficient cooking capacity and seating to generate enough profits for expansion. We had a consistent business, but with no opportunity to increase production capacity, we were doomed from the beginning.

3. Choose your location carefully.

Initially, New York City seemed like the perfect place to start a new food concept. It offered a high volume of people, access to big press outlets, tourist traffic, millions of food-centric locals and plenty of vacant real estate available to open new locations. Yet, rents in NYC are so volatile that it is hard to create a business plan that will sustain growth. Starbucks has felt the pressure too, changing its business model for NYC locations to focus on smaller more efficient spaces.

Rent was only one of the hurdles that stunted our growth.  Staffing in NYC became the biggest struggle for Brooklyn Taco. How could I expect my business to attract and retain valuable employees when I couldn’t afford to pay them enough to meet their basic living needs?

Opening Brooklyn Taco in my hometown in Connecticut was not as exciting as opening in New York, but it was an idea that I should have seriously considered.  It is hard to accept, but the cost of operating a business in a major metropolitan area can be so prohibitive that you can make more money opening in a small town.

Related: 5 Mistakes to Avoid as an Entrepreneur

4. Explore new ways to boost your bottom line.

Brooklyn Taco did not have a beer and wine license nor did it have a liquor license. Alcohol was not part of the original plan when we established the company; we were purely a food-driven concept. It was not until we started putting the numbers together for investors that we realized that a beer and wine license or liquor license would have increased our profits significantly. The reality is that alcohol is shelf stable and has high profit margins; food is quite the opposite. The importance of alcohol in a food operation was reiterated after consulting multiple restauranteurs as we started to explore opening additional locations.

While we were never able to move on those plans, the lesson we learned was important: as a business owner, you need to always be looking at ways to protect and grow your bottom line.

5. Build a business that needs you to grow but can run without you.

Brooklyn Taco had huge breakthrough in the beginning of June 2015 when we were accepted into a two-month outdoor summer market, Broadway Bites, located in Herald Square.  Rent was extremely high — $10,000/month for a 10-foot square booth — but we had an incredible opportunity to make a lot of money while testing our tacos out in the Midtown demographic. Two 96-hour work weeks into the market, I had learned the ropes.

Now let’s fast forward to our last day, the breakdown and cleanup. I was exhausted beyond belief and didn’t know that a disc in my neck was herniated. My shoulder muscles became partially paralyzed due to nerve damage. Surgery was my only option — and the only thing that wasn’t included in my business plan. Brooklyn Taco was forced to function without me and it didn’t work. I had spent so much time building my business on the ground level that I had created a company that could not survive without me.

6. Do not start a business with your significant other.

There is an undeniable and irreversible toll of trying to mix business with pleasure. A fight at home can carry into the business, and in our case a fight eventually led to a breakup. My girlfriend and I separated, but we remained in a business relationship and it was toxic.

The hardest part was accepting that we could not continue to operate a business with this dynamic. Neither she nor I were willing to run the business alone, and angel investors were not lining up like we had hoped. This was the end of Brooklyn Taco.

Despite such an arduous path from the beginning to the end of Brooklyn Taco, I do not have any regrets about the journey. I started out as a nervous amateur cook who knew little about what it takes to run a business to a savvy owner and seasoned chef who created one of the most recognized tacos in NYC. I hope that some day, Brooklyn Taco has the opportunity to rise up again and show everyone its greatness. That’s the beauty of mistakes — if you learn from them, you’ll never fail to build something better.

Related: 5 Keys to Rebounding From a Failed Business Strong

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Tullett Prebon in Talks to Buy ICAP's Global Brokering Business – New York Times

LONDON — The British brokerage firm Tullett Prebon said on Friday that it was in discussions with ICAP to acquire its British counterpart’s global brokering business, which acts as a middleman for trading stocks, currencies and commodities.

The transaction, if completed, would expand Tullett Prebon’s traditional intermediary business at a time when so-called interdealer brokers have been hit by lower trading volumes as they face uncertainty in the global markets and higher regulatory costs.

The deal would include ICAP’s global brokering business; associated technology and brokerage platforms, including its electronic interest-rate swap platform iSwap; ICAP’s associated information services revenue; and some of ICAP’s joint ventures.

Under the deal, Tullett Prebon said it would expect to issue new stock equal to more than 100 percent of its existing share capital. A majority of the new shares would be distributed to ICAP’s shareholders and ICAP would retain a minority stake in Tullett Prebon.

“Discussions regarding the transaction are currently ongoing, and there can be no certainty that any transaction will be agreed,” Tullett Prebon said in a news release.

ICAP confirmed separately on Friday that it was in discussions with Tullett Prebon.

Both ICAP and Tullett Prebon have found themselves caught in recent years in a scandal over the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, a global benchmark interest rate known as Libor.

Three former brokers from ICAP and one former broker from Tullett Prebon are on trial in London on criminal charges that they conspired to manipulate Libor.

In 2013, ICAP agreed to pay about $87 million in fines to British and American authorities related to accusations of attempted manipulation of Libor as it was tied to the Japanese yen.

It was also fined 14.9 million euros, or about $16 million, this year by European antitrust authorities, who claim the firm had breached antitrust laws by assisting efforts by several banks to rig Libor. ICAP said at the time that the fine was “wrong both in fact and in law” and related to conduct for which it had already settled.

ICAP’s global brokering business acts an intermediary for businesses and individuals looking to trade a variety of asset classes, including bonds, commodities, currencies, interest rates and stocks.

The global brokering business focuses on so-called voice brokering, in which orders are negotiated on the phone, rather than through electronic orders, as well as a hybrid of voice brokering and electronic trading. It had 1,458 voice brokers as of the end of March.

The business operates in 37 locations in 23 countries, including one in Jersey City.

It is by far ICAP’s largest revenue generator, but it has experienced declining revenue in recent years.

The businesses being sold generated revenue of 808 million pounds, or about $1.2 billion, in ICAP’s 2015 fiscal year, which ended in March. That is down from revenue of £913 million in fiscal 2014 and revenue of £992 million in fiscal 2013.

Over all, ICAP, which would retain its electronic trading and post trade risk businesses, posted revenue of £1.28 billion in fiscal 2015.

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6 Lessons I Wish I'd Known Before My Business Failed – Entrepreneur

It was easy to forget about the difficulties of building my business, Brooklyn Taco Co., when I was catering for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart every month. It was a great achievement to have my favorite celebrity craving my handcrafted tacos. Getting Stewart to laugh at one of my impersonations of a lunch lady was also pretty great. But the feeling of success faded quickly.

In February 2015, Brooklyn Taco closed. Immediately, I found myself obsessing over the whys and what-ifs.  Five years of experience building a food business taught me unforgettable lessons, but they were taught too late.

With absolute certainty, I know that Brooklyn Taco could have grown beyond a local brand if we had followed the principles below.

Related: How Working for 8 Failed Startups Catapulted My Success

1. Swallow your pride.

I had too much pride to share ownership of Brooklyn Taco with an outside investor. Brooklyn Taco had an offer in the beginning for around $400,000 for 80 percent. At the time, it seemed like I was selling off everything that my partner and I had built. Today, Brooklyn Taco is a dormant brand.  If you asked me if I would rather have 10 percent ownership in a prosperous company or half ownership in a failed company, I would take the former. Of course, giving up equity comes with its own risks, but take the time to think about it — just don’t assume that it’s best to keep your company entirely in your own hands.

2. Starting too small can be a curse.

Starting small seemed like the healthy approach. We created the concept with $30,000, including rent, equipment and branding. The plan was to slowly grow and use the earnings to fund a larger operation, but in reality, a space that is too small to generate substantial profits is like treading water until you are too tired to stay afloat and you go under. This is the exact situation that occurred with Brooklyn Taco. A small space with low rent seemed perfect until we realized we lacked sufficient cooking capacity and seating to generate enough profits for expansion. We had a consistent business, but with no opportunity to increase production capacity, we were doomed from the beginning.

3. Choose your location carefully.

Initially, New York City seemed like the perfect place to start a new food concept. It offered a high volume of people, access to big press outlets, tourist traffic, millions of food-centric locals and plenty of vacant real estate available to open new locations. Yet, rents in NYC are so volatile that it is hard to create a business plan that will sustain growth. Starbucks has felt the pressure too, changing its business model for NYC locations to focus on smaller more efficient spaces.

Rent was only one of the hurdles that stunted our growth.  Staffing in NYC became the biggest struggle for Brooklyn Taco. How could I expect my business to attract and retain valuable employees when I couldn’t afford to pay them enough to meet their basic living needs?

Opening Brooklyn Taco in my hometown in Connecticut was not as exciting as opening in New York, but it was an idea that I should have seriously considered.  It is hard to accept, but the cost of operating a business in a major metropolitan area can be so prohibitive that you can make more money opening in a small town.

Related: 5 Mistakes to Avoid as an Entrepreneur

4. Explore new ways to boost your bottom line.

Brooklyn Taco did not have a beer and wine license nor did it have a liquor license. Alcohol was not part of the original plan when we established the company; we were purely a food-driven concept. It was not until we started putting the numbers together for investors that we realized that a beer and wine license or liquor license would have increased our profits significantly. The reality is that alcohol is shelf stable and has high profit margins; food is quite the opposite. The importance of alcohol in a food operation was reiterated after consulting multiple restauranteurs as we started to explore opening additional locations.

While we were never able to move on those plans, the lesson we learned was important: as a business owner, you need to always be looking at ways to protect and grow your bottom line.

5. Build a business that needs you to grow but can run without you.

Brooklyn Taco had huge breakthrough in the beginning of June 2015 when we were accepted into a two-month outdoor summer market, Broadway Bites, located in Herald Square.  Rent was extremely high — $10,000/month for a 10-foot square booth — but we had an incredible opportunity to make a lot of money while testing our tacos out in the Midtown demographic. Two 96-hour work weeks into the market, I had learned the ropes.

Now let’s fast forward to our last day, the breakdown and cleanup. I was exhausted beyond belief and didn’t know that a disc in my neck was herniated. My shoulder muscles became partially paralyzed due to nerve damage. Surgery was my only option — and the only thing that wasn’t included in my business plan. Brooklyn Taco was forced to function without me and it didn’t work. I had spent so much time building my business on the ground level that I had created a company that could not survive without me.

6. Do not start a business with your significant other.

There is an undeniable and irreversible toll of trying to mix business with pleasure. A fight at home can carry into the business, and in our case a fight eventually led to a breakup. My girlfriend and I separated, but we remained in a business relationship and it was toxic.

The hardest part was accepting that we could not continue to operate a business with this dynamic. Neither she nor I were willing to run the business alone, and angel investors were not lining up like we had hoped. This was the end of Brooklyn Taco.

Despite such an arduous path from the beginning to the end of Brooklyn Taco, I do not have any regrets about the journey. I started out as a nervous amateur cook who knew little about what it takes to run a business to a savvy owner and seasoned chef who created one of the most recognized tacos in NYC. I hope that some day, Brooklyn Taco has the opportunity to rise up again and show everyone its greatness. That’s the beauty of mistakes — if you learn from them, you’ll never fail to build something better.

Related: 5 Keys to Rebounding From a Failed Business Strong

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.

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Tullett Prebon in Talks to Buy ICAP's Global Brokering Business – New York Times

LONDON — The British brokerage firm Tullett Prebon said on Friday that it was in discussions with ICAP to acquire its British counterpart’s global brokering business, which acts as a middleman for trading stocks, currencies and commodities.

The transaction, if completed, would expand Tullett Prebon’s traditional intermediary business at a time when so-called interdealer brokers have been hit by lower trading volumes as they face uncertainty in the global markets and higher regulatory costs.

The deal would include ICAP’s global brokering business; associated technology and brokerage platforms, including its electronic interest-rate swap platform iSwap; ICAP’s associated information services revenue; and some of ICAP’s joint ventures.

Under the deal, Tullett Prebon said it would expect to issue new stock equal to more than 100 percent of its existing share capital. A majority of the new shares would be distributed to ICAP’s shareholders and ICAP would retain a minority stake in Tullett Prebon.

“Discussions regarding the transaction are currently ongoing, and there can be no certainty that any transaction will be agreed,” Tullett Prebon said in a news release.

ICAP confirmed separately on Friday that it was in discussions with Tullett Prebon.

Both ICAP and Tullett Prebon have found themselves caught in recent years in a scandal over the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, a global benchmark interest rate known as Libor.

Three former brokers from ICAP and one former broker from Tullett Prebon are on trial in London on criminal charges that they conspired to manipulate Libor.

In 2013, ICAP agreed to pay about $87 million in fines to British and American authorities related to accusations of attempted manipulation of Libor as it was tied to the Japanese yen.

It was also fined 14.9 million euros, or about $16 million, this year by European antitrust authorities, who claim the firm had breached antitrust laws by assisting efforts by several banks to rig Libor. ICAP said at the time that the fine was “wrong both in fact and in law” and related to conduct for which it had already settled.

ICAP’s global brokering business acts an intermediary for businesses and individuals looking to trade a variety of asset classes, including bonds, commodities, currencies, interest rates and stocks.

The global brokering business focuses on so-called voice brokering, in which orders are negotiated on the phone, rather than through electronic orders, as well as a hybrid of voice brokering and electronic trading. It had 1,458 voice brokers as of the end of March.

The business operates in 37 locations in 23 countries, including one in Jersey City.

It is by far ICAP’s largest revenue generator, but it has experienced declining revenue in recent years.

The businesses being sold generated revenue of 808 million pounds, or about $1.2 billion, in ICAP’s 2015 fiscal year, which ended in March. That is down from revenue of £913 million in fiscal 2014 and revenue of £992 million in fiscal 2013.

Over all, ICAP, which would retain its electronic trading and post trade risk businesses, posted revenue of £1.28 billion in fiscal 2015.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.

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Tullett Prebon in Talks to Buy ICAP's Global Brokering Business – New York Times

LONDON — The British brokerage firm Tullett Prebon said on Friday that it was in discussions with ICAP to acquire its British counterpart’s global brokering business, which acts as a middleman for trading stocks, currencies and commodities.

The transaction, if completed, would expand Tullett Prebon’s traditional intermediary business at a time when so-called interdealer brokers have been hit by lower trading volumes as they face uncertainty in the global markets and higher regulatory costs.

The deal would include ICAP’s global brokering business; associated technology and brokerage platforms, including its electronic interest-rate swap platform iSwap; ICAP’s associated information services revenue; and some of ICAP’s joint ventures.

Under the deal, Tullett Prebon said it would expect to issue new stock equal to more than 100 percent of its existing share capital. A majority of the new shares would be distributed to ICAP’s shareholders and ICAP would retain a minority stake in Tullett Prebon.

“Discussions regarding the transaction are currently ongoing, and there can be no certainty that any transaction will be agreed,” Tullett Prebon said in a news release.

ICAP confirmed separately on Friday that it was in discussions with Tullett Prebon.

Both ICAP and Tullett Prebon have found themselves caught in recent years in a scandal over the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, a global benchmark interest rate known as Libor.

Three former brokers from ICAP and one former broker from Tullett Prebon are on trial in London on criminal charges that they conspired to manipulate Libor.

In 2013, ICAP agreed to pay about $87 million in fines to British and American authorities related to accusations of attempted manipulation of Libor as it was tied to the Japanese yen.

It was also fined 14.9 million euros, or about $16 million, this year by European antitrust authorities, who claim the firm had breached antitrust laws by assisting efforts by several banks to rig Libor. ICAP said at the time that the fine was “wrong both in fact and in law” and related to conduct for which it had already settled.

ICAP’s global brokering business acts an intermediary for businesses and individuals looking to trade a variety of asset classes, including bonds, commodities, currencies, interest rates and stocks.

The global brokering business focuses on so-called voice brokering, in which orders are negotiated on the phone, rather than through electronic orders, as well as a hybrid of voice brokering and electronic trading. It had 1,458 voice brokers as of the end of March.

The business operates in 37 locations in 23 countries, including one in Jersey City.

It is by far ICAP’s largest revenue generator, but it has experienced declining revenue in recent years.

The businesses being sold generated revenue of 808 million pounds, or about $1.2 billion, in ICAP’s 2015 fiscal year, which ended in March. That is down from revenue of £913 million in fiscal 2014 and revenue of £992 million in fiscal 2013.

Over all, ICAP, which would retain its electronic trading and post trade risk businesses, posted revenue of £1.28 billion in fiscal 2015.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.

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The post Tullett Prebon in Talks to Buy ICAP's Global Brokering Business – New York Times appeared first on Evan Vitale Consulting Blog.

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6 Lessons I Wish I'd Known Before My Business Failed – Entrepreneur

It was easy to forget about the difficulties of building my business, Brooklyn Taco Co., when I was catering for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart every month. It was a great achievement to have my favorite celebrity craving my handcrafted tacos. Getting Stewart to laugh at one of my impersonations of a lunch lady was also pretty great. But the feeling of success faded quickly.

In February 2015, Brooklyn Taco closed. Immediately, I found myself obsessing over the whys and what-ifs.  Five years of experience building a food business taught me unforgettable lessons, but they were taught too late.

With absolute certainty, I know that Brooklyn Taco could have grown beyond a local brand if we had followed the principles below.

Related: How Working for 8 Failed Startups Catapulted My Success

1. Swallow your pride.

I had too much pride to share ownership of Brooklyn Taco with an outside investor. Brooklyn Taco had an offer in the beginning for around $400,000 for 80 percent. At the time, it seemed like I was selling off everything that my partner and I had built. Today, Brooklyn Taco is a dormant brand.  If you asked me if I would rather have 10 percent ownership in a prosperous company or half ownership in a failed company, I would take the former. Of course, giving up equity comes with its own risks, but take the time to think about it — just don’t assume that it’s best to keep your company entirely in your own hands.

2. Starting too small can be a curse.

Starting small seemed like the healthy approach. We created the concept with $30,000, including rent, equipment and branding. The plan was to slowly grow and use the earnings to fund a larger operation, but in reality, a space that is too small to generate substantial profits is like treading water until you are too tired to stay afloat and you go under. This is the exact situation that occurred with Brooklyn Taco. A small space with low rent seemed perfect until we realized we lacked sufficient cooking capacity and seating to generate enough profits for expansion. We had a consistent business, but with no opportunity to increase production capacity, we were doomed from the beginning.

3. Choose your location carefully.

Initially, New York City seemed like the perfect place to start a new food concept. It offered a high volume of people, access to big press outlets, tourist traffic, millions of food-centric locals and plenty of vacant real estate available to open new locations. Yet, rents in NYC are so volatile that it is hard to create a business plan that will sustain growth. Starbucks has felt the pressure too, changing its business model for NYC locations to focus on smaller more efficient spaces.

Rent was only one of the hurdles that stunted our growth.  Staffing in NYC became the biggest struggle for Brooklyn Taco. How could I expect my business to attract and retain valuable employees when I couldn’t afford to pay them enough to meet their basic living needs?

Opening Brooklyn Taco in my hometown in Connecticut was not as exciting as opening in New York, but it was an idea that I should have seriously considered.  It is hard to accept, but the cost of operating a business in a major metropolitan area can be so prohibitive that you can make more money opening in a small town.

Related: 5 Mistakes to Avoid as an Entrepreneur

4. Explore new ways to boost your bottom line.

Brooklyn Taco did not have a beer and wine license nor did it have a liquor license. Alcohol was not part of the original plan when we established the company; we were purely a food-driven concept. It was not until we started putting the numbers together for investors that we realized that a beer and wine license or liquor license would have increased our profits significantly. The reality is that alcohol is shelf stable and has high profit margins; food is quite the opposite. The importance of alcohol in a food operation was reiterated after consulting multiple restauranteurs as we started to explore opening additional locations.

While we were never able to move on those plans, the lesson we learned was important: as a business owner, you need to always be looking at ways to protect and grow your bottom line.

5. Build a business that needs you to grow but can run without you.

Brooklyn Taco had huge breakthrough in the beginning of June 2015 when we were accepted into a two-month outdoor summer market, Broadway Bites, located in Herald Square.  Rent was extremely high — $10,000/month for a 10-foot square booth — but we had an incredible opportunity to make a lot of money while testing our tacos out in the Midtown demographic. Two 96-hour work weeks into the market, I had learned the ropes.

Now let’s fast forward to our last day, the breakdown and cleanup. I was exhausted beyond belief and didn’t know that a disc in my neck was herniated. My shoulder muscles became partially paralyzed due to nerve damage. Surgery was my only option — and the only thing that wasn’t included in my business plan. Brooklyn Taco was forced to function without me and it didn’t work. I had spent so much time building my business on the ground level that I had created a company that could not survive without me.

6. Do not start a business with your significant other.

There is an undeniable and irreversible toll of trying to mix business with pleasure. A fight at home can carry into the business, and in our case a fight eventually led to a breakup. My girlfriend and I separated, but we remained in a business relationship and it was toxic.

The hardest part was accepting that we could not continue to operate a business with this dynamic. Neither she nor I were willing to run the business alone, and angel investors were not lining up like we had hoped. This was the end of Brooklyn Taco.

Despite such an arduous path from the beginning to the end of Brooklyn Taco, I do not have any regrets about the journey. I started out as a nervous amateur cook who knew little about what it takes to run a business to a savvy owner and seasoned chef who created one of the most recognized tacos in NYC. I hope that some day, Brooklyn Taco has the opportunity to rise up again and show everyone its greatness. That’s the beauty of mistakes — if you learn from them, you’ll never fail to build something better.

Related: 5 Keys to Rebounding From a Failed Business Strong

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.

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Tullett Prebon in Talks to Buy ICAP's Global Brokering Business – New York Times

LONDON — The British brokerage firm Tullett Prebon said on Friday that it was in discussions with ICAP to acquire its British counterpart’s global brokering business, which acts as a middleman for trading stocks, currencies and commodities.

The transaction, if completed, would expand Tullett Prebon’s traditional intermediary business at a time when so-called interdealer brokers have been hit by lower trading volumes as they face uncertainty in the global markets and higher regulatory costs.

The deal would include ICAP’s global brokering business; associated technology and brokerage platforms, including its electronic interest-rate swap platform iSwap; ICAP’s associated information services revenue; and some of ICAP’s joint ventures.

Under the deal, Tullett Prebon said it would expect to issue new stock equal to more than 100 percent of its existing share capital. A majority of the new shares would be distributed to ICAP’s shareholders and ICAP would retain a minority stake in Tullett Prebon.

“Discussions regarding the transaction are currently ongoing, and there can be no certainty that any transaction will be agreed,” Tullett Prebon said in a news release.

ICAP confirmed separately on Friday that it was in discussions with Tullett Prebon.

Both ICAP and Tullett Prebon have found themselves caught in recent years in a scandal over the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, a global benchmark interest rate known as Libor.

Three former brokers from ICAP and one former broker from Tullett Prebon are on trial in London on criminal charges that they conspired to manipulate Libor.

In 2013, ICAP agreed to pay about $87 million in fines to British and American authorities related to accusations of attempted manipulation of Libor as it was tied to the Japanese yen.

It was also fined 14.9 million euros, or about $16 million, this year by European antitrust authorities, who claim the firm had breached antitrust laws by assisting efforts by several banks to rig Libor. ICAP said at the time that the fine was “wrong both in fact and in law” and related to conduct for which it had already settled.

ICAP’s global brokering business acts an intermediary for businesses and individuals looking to trade a variety of asset classes, including bonds, commodities, currencies, interest rates and stocks.

The global brokering business focuses on so-called voice brokering, in which orders are negotiated on the phone, rather than through electronic orders, as well as a hybrid of voice brokering and electronic trading. It had 1,458 voice brokers as of the end of March.

The business operates in 37 locations in 23 countries, including one in Jersey City.

It is by far ICAP’s largest revenue generator, but it has experienced declining revenue in recent years.

The businesses being sold generated revenue of 808 million pounds, or about $1.2 billion, in ICAP’s 2015 fiscal year, which ended in March. That is down from revenue of £913 million in fiscal 2014 and revenue of £992 million in fiscal 2013.

Over all, ICAP, which would retain its electronic trading and post trade risk businesses, posted revenue of £1.28 billion in fiscal 2015.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.

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Tullett Prebon in Talks to Buy ICAP's Global Brokering Business – New York Times

LONDON — The British brokerage firm Tullett Prebon said on Friday that it was in discussions with ICAP to acquire its British counterpart’s global brokering business, which acts as a middleman for trading stocks, currencies and commodities.

The transaction, if completed, would expand Tullett Prebon’s traditional intermediary business at a time when so-called interdealer brokers have been hit by lower trading volumes as they face uncertainty in the global markets and higher regulatory costs.

The deal would include ICAP’s global brokering business; associated technology and brokerage platforms, including its electronic interest-rate swap platform iSwap; ICAP’s associated information services revenue; and some of ICAP’s joint ventures.

Under the deal, Tullett Prebon said it would expect to issue new stock equal to more than 100 percent of its existing share capital. A majority of the new shares would be distributed to ICAP’s shareholders and ICAP would retain a minority stake in Tullett Prebon.

“Discussions regarding the transaction are currently ongoing, and there can be no certainty that any transaction will be agreed,” Tullett Prebon said in a news release.

ICAP confirmed separately on Friday that it was in discussions with Tullett Prebon.

Both ICAP and Tullett Prebon have found themselves caught in recent years in a scandal over the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, a global benchmark interest rate known as Libor.

Three former brokers from ICAP and one former broker from Tullett Prebon are on trial in London on criminal charges that they conspired to manipulate Libor.

In 2013, ICAP agreed to pay about $87 million in fines to British and American authorities related to accusations of attempted manipulation of Libor as it was tied to the Japanese yen.

It was also fined 14.9 million euros, or about $16 million, this year by European antitrust authorities, who claim the firm had breached antitrust laws by assisting efforts by several banks to rig Libor. ICAP said at the time that the fine was “wrong both in fact and in law” and related to conduct for which it had already settled.

ICAP’s global brokering business acts an intermediary for businesses and individuals looking to trade a variety of asset classes, including bonds, commodities, currencies, interest rates and stocks.

The global brokering business focuses on so-called voice brokering, in which orders are negotiated on the phone, rather than through electronic orders, as well as a hybrid of voice brokering and electronic trading. It had 1,458 voice brokers as of the end of March.

The business operates in 37 locations in 23 countries, including one in Jersey City.

It is by far ICAP’s largest revenue generator, but it has experienced declining revenue in recent years.

The businesses being sold generated revenue of 808 million pounds, or about $1.2 billion, in ICAP’s 2015 fiscal year, which ended in March. That is down from revenue of £913 million in fiscal 2014 and revenue of £992 million in fiscal 2013.

Over all, ICAP, which would retain its electronic trading and post trade risk businesses, posted revenue of £1.28 billion in fiscal 2015.

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Apple's Eddy Cue: We're Serious About Business Tech Too – Fortune

Apple wants the world to know that it’s a serious business technology company. On Wednesday, it tried to underscore that message by trotting out yet another top executive at a business software conference.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, appeared on stage at a conference hosted by Dropbox, a cloud storage and work collaboration startup.

Just a little over a month ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke at a conference hosted by Dropbox rival Box where he bragged that Apple’s enterprise technology sales had hit $25 billion annually. Apparently, Apple’s financial interests trump loyalty.

Cue followed up on Cook’s talk by reiterating Apple’s push into selling technology to businesses.

“We don’t know vertical markets,” said Cue referring to Apple’s lack of history in selling to specific industries. As a result, it has partnered with industry giants Cisco CSCO , IBM IBM , and Microsoft MSFT to sell products to customers.

Still, Cue said that Apple’s popularity with consumers has given the company a way into the workplace as more workers use their mobile devices for both their personal and business lives.

When Apple AAPL introduced the iPad tablet, Cue said two trends emerged. Not only were consumers buying the devices, but so did executives and top corporate managers.

As a result, “board meetings changed” and executives started to swap documents via their iPads. Eventually with business management teams becoming more comfortable using iPads themselves, they started to introduce them to other workers.

And while some analysts say that Apple has a long way to go to become a big enterprise tech player, Cue said that businesses are still in the early stage of adopting mobile technology. That’s an area Apple can capitalize on, he insisted.

Cue acknowledged Apple’s troubles in the 1990’s, when it neared bankruptcy. Apple was “all over the map,” lacked discipline, and tried to build too many products instead of focusing on just a few, he said.

“It’s hard to lose billions of dollars unless you try to give it away,” Cue joked.

He attributes the company’s resurgence to the return of co-founder Steve Jobs as CEO, a role he likens to a coach on a sports team. When a company has a strong CEO that workers rally behind, it’s likely it will succeed. He explained that bad CEOs can poison a company and cause it to stagnate by the leadership team they surround themselves with.

“The worst part is everybody they bring in is worse,” said Cue.

Currently, Apple has over 100,000 employees, which is more than the company ever had, Cue said. To make sure that it doesn’t feel too bloated and disorganized, Apple put most its engineering teams in its Cupertino headquarters instead of scattering teams around the world.

Few other big Silicon Valley tech companies have adopted a similar strategy.

Cue also talked about how the public’s perception of Apple has changed as it has grown. A large company might be perceived as being a “bully” by the actions it takes to grow its business, he said. However, a smaller company doing the same thing may be admired for its aggression and willingness to do what it takes to ensure that its business flourishes.

And even though Apple is a much bigger company than ever before, Cue said he still views it as an underdog. The company dominates neither the personal computer or mobile phone markets, he pointed out to an audience that likely thinks of Apple as a behemoth.

“We got a lot more way to go,” he said.

Subscribe to Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the business of technology.

For more on Apple, check out the following Fortune video:

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Tullett Prebon in Talks to Buy ICAP's Broking Business – Wall Street Journal

ENLARGE

The ICAP logo is seen on the company headquarters in London.


Photo:

Bloomberg News

By

Chiara Albanese and

• Chiara Albanese
  The Wall Street Journal
  CANCEL
• Biography
• @chiaraalbanese
• Google+
• chiara.albanese@wsj.com

Giles Turner

• Giles Turner
  The Wall Street Journal
  CANCEL
• Biography
• @turnergs
• giles.turner@dowjones.com

Updated Nov. 6, 2015 9:48 a.m. ET

0 COMMENTS

LONDON–Interdealer broker Tullett Prebon
TLPR


7.24
%




PLC is in talks to acquire the global brokerage operations of ICAP
IAPLY


3.31
%




PLC to mitigate the impact of tougher regulations and a shift to automated trading which have sapped industry profits.

The deal could be worth more than £1 billion ($1.5 billion) according to a person close to the situation. Details are still being discussed, but an agreement would include ICAP’s technology and brokering platforms, according to company statements on Friday.

ICAP’s global brokering business, including the interest-rates trading platform iSwap, had revenue of £808 million pounds ($1.25 billion) in the year to end-March, compared with ICAP’s total revenue of £1.28 billion.

‘Continuation of low-interest rate conditions and compressed bond-market spreads in Europe has further dampened activity, particularly in interest-rate derivatives and fixed-income products.’

—Tullett Prebon statement

To finance the deal, Tullett would issue new shares, which would be mostly distributed to ICAP’s shareholders. Tullett currently has a market cap of £853 million.

Shares of both firms rose sharply after talks were confirmed Friday, as the deal was seen in favorable light for the squeezed brokerage business of the City of London.

ICAP and Tullett Prebon are among the world’s largest interdealer brokers and have both recently announced head-count reductions and strategic reviews of their business to bolster profit margins amid stricter banking and markets regulation and a widespread shift from voice to electronic trading.

Reacting to the same industry pressures, BGC Partners
BGCP


0.28
%




purchased GFI Group
GFIG


-0.33
%




earlier this year.

Brokers act as intermediaries between investment banks and investors by selling financial instruments such as bonds, currencies and derivatives.

“This is a potentially positive development,” said Neil Welch, analyst at Macquarie Capital. “Synergies could allow them to counteract the structural and cyclical” forces weighing down on the sector, though more details about the transaction are needed to see how it would create value for shareholders.

In an earlier statement Friday, Tullett said it was to cut about 5% of its voice brokers. “Continuation of low-interest rate conditions and compressed bond-market spreads in Europe has further dampened activity, particularly in interest-rate derivatives and fixed-income products,” Tullett said in the statement.

ENLARGE

Michael Spencer, the main shareholder and chief executive of ICAP.


Photo:

Bloomberg News

The firm, which appointed John Phizackerley as chief executive last year, said earlier this month that it expects its full-year underlying operating profit margin to fall from the year before.

ICAP, whose main shareholder is Michael Spencer, reduced the head count of its voice-broking business, and redeployed staff to electronic-trading operations and other areas of the business in recent months.

“Consolidation in this industry, and the disappearance of some names, is inevitable,” said Frederic Ponzo, managing partner of consultancy Greyspark. He described the pressure from the shift to electronic trading and regulation for the brokers as “massive.”

Write to Chiara Albanese at chiara.albanese@wsj.com

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Tullett Prebon in Talks to Buy ICAP's Broking Business – Wall Street Journal

ENLARGE

The ICAP logo is seen on the company headquarters in London.


Photo:

Bloomberg News

By

Chiara Albanese and

• Chiara Albanese
  The Wall Street Journal
  CANCEL
• Biography
• @chiaraalbanese
• Google+
• chiara.albanese@wsj.com

Giles Turner

• Giles Turner
  The Wall Street Journal
  CANCEL
• Biography
• @turnergs
• giles.turner@dowjones.com

Updated Nov. 6, 2015 9:48 a.m. ET

0 COMMENTS

LONDON–Interdealer broker Tullett Prebon
TLPR


6.72
%




PLC is in talks to acquire the global brokerage operations of ICAP
IAPLY


3.31
%




PLC to mitigate the impact of tougher regulations and a shift to automated trading which have sapped industry profits.

The deal could be worth more than £1 billion ($1.5 billion) according to a person close to the situation. Details are still being discussed, but an agreement would include ICAP’s technology and brokering platforms, according to company statements on Friday.

ICAP’s global brokering business, including the interest-rates trading platform iSwap, had revenue of £808 million pounds ($1.25 billion) in the year to end-March, compared with ICAP’s total revenue of £1.28 billion.

‘Continuation of low-interest rate conditions and compressed bond-market spreads in Europe has further dampened activity, particularly in interest-rate derivatives and fixed-income products.’

—Tullett Prebon statement

To finance the deal, Tullett would issue new shares, which would be mostly distributed to ICAP’s shareholders. Tullett currently has a market cap of £853 million.

Shares of both firms rose sharply after talks were confirmed Friday, as the deal was seen in favorable light for the squeezed brokerage business of the City of London.

ICAP and Tullett Prebon are among the world’s largest interdealer brokers and have both recently announced head-count reductions and strategic reviews of their business to bolster profit margins amid stricter banking and markets regulation and a widespread shift from voice to electronic trading.

Reacting to the same industry pressures, BGC Partners
BGCP


0.34
%




purchased GFI Group
GFIG


-0.33
%




earlier this year.

Brokers act as intermediaries between investment banks and investors by selling financial instruments such as bonds, currencies and derivatives.

“This is a potentially positive development,” said Neil Welch, analyst at Macquarie Capital. “Synergies could allow them to counteract the structural and cyclical” forces weighing down on the sector, though more details about the transaction are needed to see how it would create value for shareholders.

In an earlier statement Friday, Tullett said it was to cut about 5% of its voice brokers. “Continuation of low-interest rate conditions and compressed bond-market spreads in Europe has further dampened activity, particularly in interest-rate derivatives and fixed-income products,” Tullett said in the statement.

ENLARGE

Michael Spencer, the main shareholder and chief executive of ICAP.


Photo:

Bloomberg News

The firm, which appointed John Phizackerley as chief executive last year, said earlier this month that it expects its full-year underlying operating profit margin to fall from the year before.

ICAP, whose main shareholder is Michael Spencer, reduced the head count of its voice-broking business, and redeployed staff to electronic-trading operations and other areas of the business in recent months.

“Consolidation in this industry, and the disappearance of some names, is inevitable,” said Frederic Ponzo, managing partner of consultancy Greyspark. He described the pressure from the shift to electronic trading and regulation for the brokers as “massive.”

Write to Chiara Albanese at chiara.albanese@wsj.com

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Tullett Prebon in Talks to Buy ICAP's Broking Business – Wall Street Journal

ENLARGE

The ICAP logo is seen on the company headquarters in London.


Photo:

Bloomberg News

By

Chiara Albanese and

• Chiara Albanese
  The Wall Street Journal
  CANCEL
• Biography
• @chiaraalbanese
• Google+
• chiara.albanese@wsj.com

Giles Turner

• Giles Turner
  The Wall Street Journal
  CANCEL
• Biography
• @turnergs
• giles.turner@dowjones.com

Updated Nov. 6, 2015 9:48 a.m. ET

0 COMMENTS

LONDON–Interdealer broker Tullett Prebon
TLPR


6.66
%




PLC is in talks to acquire the global brokerage operations of ICAP
IAPLY


3.31
%




PLC to mitigate the impact of tougher regulations and a shift to automated trading which have sapped industry profits.

The deal could be worth more than £1 billion ($1.5 billion) according to a person close to the situation. Details are still being discussed, but an agreement would include ICAP’s technology and brokering platforms, according to company statements on Friday.

ICAP’s global brokering business, including the interest-rates trading platform iSwap, had revenue of £808 million pounds ($1.25 billion) in the year to end-March, compared with ICAP’s total revenue of £1.28 billion.

‘Continuation of low-interest rate conditions and compressed bond-market spreads in Europe has further dampened activity, particularly in interest-rate derivatives and fixed-income products.’

—Tullett Prebon statement

To finance the deal, Tullett would issue new shares, which would be mostly distributed to ICAP’s shareholders. Tullett currently has a market cap of £853 million.

Shares of both firms rose sharply after talks were confirmed Friday, as the deal was seen in favorable light for the squeezed brokerage business of the City of London.

ICAP and Tullett Prebon are among the world’s largest interdealer brokers and have both recently announced head-count reductions and strategic reviews of their business to bolster profit margins amid stricter banking and markets regulation and a widespread shift from voice to electronic trading.

Reacting to the same industry pressures, BGC Partners
BGCP


0.45
%




purchased GFI Group
GFIG


-0.33
%




earlier this year.

Brokers act as intermediaries between investment banks and investors by selling financial instruments such as bonds, currencies and derivatives.

“This is a potentially positive development,” said Neil Welch, analyst at Macquarie Capital. “Synergies could allow them to counteract the structural and cyclical” forces weighing down on the sector, though more details about the transaction are needed to see how it would create value for shareholders.

In an earlier statement Friday, Tullett said it was to cut about 5% of its voice brokers. “Continuation of low-interest rate conditions and compressed bond-market spreads in Europe has further dampened activity, particularly in interest-rate derivatives and fixed-income products,” Tullett said in the statement.

ENLARGE

Michael Spencer, the main shareholder and chief executive of ICAP.


Photo:

Bloomberg News

The firm, which appointed John Phizackerley as chief executive last year, said earlier this month that it expects its full-year underlying operating profit margin to fall from the year before.

ICAP, whose main shareholder is Michael Spencer, reduced the head count of its voice-broking business, and redeployed staff to electronic-trading operations and other areas of the business in recent months.

“Consolidation in this industry, and the disappearance of some names, is inevitable,” said Frederic Ponzo, managing partner of consultancy Greyspark. He described the pressure from the shift to electronic trading and regulation for the brokers as “massive.”

Write to Chiara Albanese at chiara.albanese@wsj.com

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Sanofi Puts Merial Animal Business, Generics Unit on Review – Bloomberg

Sanofi shares fell by the most in two months as investors focused on the French drugmaker’s forecast of sluggish earnings growth over the next two years, rather than Chief Executive Officer Olivier Brandicourt’s plans to slim down the company and rejuvenate sales over the long term.

Investments in new drugs and headwinds for the sales of diabetes treatments mean that there won’t be “any meaningful” growth in profit in 2016 and 2017, Brandicourt told investors in Paris while presenting his detailed plans for the first time since taking the helm in April. Merial, a business that makes the flea repellent Frontline for pets, is under review along with the company’s European generics businesses.

The 59-year-old CEO, under pressure as Sanofi braces for slower sales of its best-selling diabetes therapy, signaled a return to a strategy of partnerships and acquisitions. Brandicourt also aims to cut Sanofi’s costs by 1.5 billion euros ($1.63 billion) to help sustain earnings growth in the next five years, and reinvest the proceeds in growth. Last week, the drugmaker slashed its sales forecast for diabetes products.

“The economy is slowing, so all companies that disappoint are being heavily sanctioned on the market,” Emmanuel Soupre, a fund manager at Neuflize OBC Asset Management in Paris, said in a phone interview. His firm oversees the equivalent of $40 billion including Sanofi shares.

Stock Slumps

The stock dropped 5.3 percent to 88.34 euros at 3:32 p.m. in Paris, after falling as much as 6.7 percent earlier, the steepest intraday drop since Aug. 24.

“I am defining new priorities for Sanofi,” Brandicourt said. “The company will remain diversified, but with a portfolio refocused on areas where we can win, and innovation driven to improve the lives of millions of people.”

The drugmaker expects to deliver sales growth at an annual compound rate of 3 percent to 4 percent through 2020 at constant exchange rates, with a target of mid-single digit growth in the second half of the period.

Brandicourt is counting on new therapies such as Praluent, a powerful new cholesterol treatment that first went on sale in July, and its new insulin Toujeo as well as Aubagio and Lemtrada for multiple sclerosis, to help make up for the sales slide in aging best-sellers like Lantus, the world’s best-selling insulin.

New Priorities

“Brandicourt is being realistic,” said Alistair Campbell, an analyst at Berenberg Bank in London. “He’s inherited this business that had a problem with the diabetes franchise before he arrived. He needs to move people on from the diabetes franchise and try to focus on the other growth areas.”

Starting in 2018, Sanofi said it expects to grow its business earnings per share faster than sales. Six major new drug introductions are likely to generate aggregate peak sales of as much as 14 billion euros at constant exchange rates.

Merial, run by Chief Executive Officer Carsten Hellmann, offers limited synergies with Sanofi’s other businesses, the company said. Sanofi acquired full control of Merial in 2009 and failed to merge it with Merck & Co.’s own animal-health division in 2011.

Synergies also are limited for generics in Europe, where market complexity is increasing, Sanofi said.

The company today announced a collaboration and licensing agreement with Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc. to gain worldwide licensing rights to an experimental oral diabetes therapy called sotagliflozin. And yesterday, the French drugmaker signed another licensing accord, also in diabetes, with South Korea’s Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co.

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GOP candidate line-up announced for Fox Business Network/WSJ debate – Fox News

Fox Business Network on Thursday announced the candidate line-up for the Nov. 10 Republican presidential debates.

The candidates qualifying for the prime-time, 9 p.m. ET debate are:

Billionaire businessman Donald Trump; retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; former HP CEO Carly Fiorina; Ohio Gov. John Kasich; and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

The candidates qualifying for the earlier, 7 p.m. ET debate are:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

The criteria were different than for past debates. In a change, Christie and Huckabee ‎did not qualify for the prime-time event, while former New York Gov. George Pataki and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham did not qualify for either; neither did ex-Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore. 

Christie brushed it off on Twitter, saying: “It doesn’t matter the stage, give me a podium and I’ll be there to talk about real issues.”

To qualify for the prime-time debate, a candidate had to score 2.5 percent or higher in an average of the four most recent national polls. Candidates scoring under that had to receive at least 1 percent support in at least one of the four most recent national polls to qualify for the 7 p.m. debate.

The four polls used were conducted by: Fox News; Investor’s Business Daily/TIPP; Quinnipiac University; and The Wall Street Journal/NBC News.

The candidates head into the next debate at a time when Trump and Carson are battling for the lead in most polls.

While several recent state and national surveys have shown Carson climbing into the top spot, the latest Fox News poll released Wednesday showed Trump with the edge, 26-23 percent.

The next tier in that poll included just two candidates: Cruz and Rubio, with 11 percent each.

Bush, Huckabee, Kasich and Paul registered with 4 percent.

Pataki called debate organizers’ reliance on national polls “a disservice to voters everywhere” and “a clear boost to the worship of celebrity over accomplishment and ideas.”

“The voters — not networks driven by ratings or national polls that are statistically irrelevant — should decide our next president,” he said after Fox Business Network announced the lineup.

The Fox Business Network debate, presented in partnership with The Wall Street Journal, will focus on jobs, taxes and the economy, as well as other issues. It will be held at the Milwaukee Theatre in Milwaukee, Wis.

FBN and Fox News Channel announced Thursday that cable and satellite providers have joined to make the debate available to all their subscribers.

DIRECTV, Suddenlink, Mediacom, Frontier, Wide Open West, and Cable One, and some National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) companies, plan to “unbundle” FBN so all subscribers can watch it during the debate. The debate can also be viewed at FoxBusiness.com and FoxNews.com.

The two debates start at 7 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET.

The race of late has been marked by sparring among Trump and several other candidates. Earlier this week, he challenged Carson over his readiness for office, saying “Ben can’t do the job.”

Overnight, Carson posted a lengthy defense on Facebook in response to those questioning his political inexperience.

“You are absolutely right — I have no political experience,” Carson wrote. “The current Members of Congress have a combined 8,700 years of political experience. Are we sure political experience is what we need.”

He, instead, pointed to his lifetime of experience in medicine and other fields, and drew a sharp contrast between that and Trump’s business experience. In a rare jab at a primary rival, the retired pediatric neurosurgeon said he wouldn’t trade his experience treating children for “Trump’s money.” 
Trump and Rubio also have sparred in recent days, as Rubio has surged past former front-runner Bush in the polls. Trump has described Rubio’s handling of his personal finances and credit cards as a “disaster.”

Rubio, who faced ethics questions as Florida’s House speaker for using his state GOP charge card for personal reasons, has always maintained he repaid his personal expenses. Rubio answered Trump’s criticism by saying his rival “always gets weird when his poll numbers get a little down.”

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US-based Virtusa to buy 53% stake in Polaris Consulting for Rs 1173 crore – Economic Times

NEW DELHI: US-based Virtusa today agreed to buy majority 53 per cent stake in Chennai-based Polaris Consulting and Services for about Rs 1,173 crore.

The combination will equip Virtusa to provide end-to-end global banking and financial services and solutions and pursue larger consulting and outsourcing opportunities.

According to the agreement, a subsidiary of Virtusa will acquire about 53 per cent of the paid up share capital from certain promoter entities, led by Arun Jain, and certain other shareholders, including OrbiTech (formerly known as Orbitech Limited), Virtusa said in a statement.

Virtusa will purchase shares at a price of about Rs 220.73 apiece, aggregating to about Rs 1,173 crore, it added.

“In addition, Virtusa will make an unconditional mandatory offer to the public shareholders of Polaris to purchase up to an additional 26 per cent of the outstanding shares of Polaris,” it said.

The deal will expand presence in key markets and enhance the ability to pursue larger consulting and outsourcing contracts, the statement said.

Polaris Consulting and Services had posted a net profit of Rs 47.34 crore, while its income from software development, support and BPO services stood at Rs 517.67 crore in the July-September 2015 quarter.

The deal was announced after trading hours. Polaris shares closed at Rs 204.50 apiece, down 1.02 per cent from previous close, on the BSE.

“I am delighted to have identified Kris Canekeratne and his team at Virtusa to pass on the baton to grow Polaris by offering greater value to customers and more opportunities for the team,” Polaris Consulting and Services Chairman Arun Jain said.

Last year, IT services firm Polaris Financial Technology (Polaris FT) had carved out its products business into Intellect Design Arena. Polaris FT later rebranded itself as Polaris Consulting and Services.

It had 7,648 employees (excluding BPO division) at the end of September 30, 2015.

“This will also enable me to establish and pursue innovative models for social impact using Design Thinking in the areas of health and education, in addition to my focus on steering Intellect Design Arena Limited into a global digital products powerhouse,” he said.

Virtusa Chairman and CEO Kris Canekeratne said Polaris brings a terrific team and an attractive, blue-chip client base to the organisation.

Upon closing of the transaction in the quarter ended March 2016, Citigroup Technology Inc will designate Virtusa and Polaris as a preferred vendor for providing IT services on an enterprise-wide basis.

In addition, the companies have agreed to certain productivity savings and associated reduced spend commitments for a period of two years, which, if not achieved, would require Virtusa/Polaris to provide certain minimum discounts to Citi.

Copyright © 2015 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved.

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