Citigroup Technology Group, Inc. (Citi) has accorded the newly-formed combination of Virtusa Corporation and Polaris Consulting & Services Ltd. the tag of preferred vendor for providing information technology (IT) services on an enterprise-wide basis, a top company official said. Praveen S. Purushotham, Global Head of Marketing for VirtusaPolaris, the combined entity, said the preferred vendor tag would give the combination priority in any new work that Citi undertook. This tag had come about mainly because of the deal between Virtusa and Polaris, he said. Through its Indian subsidiary Virtusa Consulting Services Pvt. Ltd., Private Limited, Virtusa Corporation acquired the entire outstanding shares of Polaris Consulting & Services held by Arun Jain, Founder and Chairman of Polaris, Orbitech Pvt. Ltd., Private Limited, and certain other minority stockholders. This totalled 51.7 per cent of the fully diluted outstanding shares of Polaris and involved a purchase consideration of $165.89 million. The stake had since increased to around 78 per cent following the open offer.
