Tata's arm Panatone to buy 43 pc stake in Tejas Networks for Rs 1,850 crore

Panatone Finvest Ltd, a subsidiary of Tata Sons, will buy 43.3 per cent stake in Tejas Networks, a global optical, broadband and data networking products company, for Rs 1,850 crore.

Tejas said it has executed definitive agreements for Panatone to acquire up to 40.3 million equity shares representing 26 per cent of voting capital according to SEBI's takeover regulations.

A public announcement will be made soon, said Tejas in regulatory filings at stock exchanges. Panatone is Tata Sons' investment arm and also the promoter entity of Tata Communications.

"Tejas sees a very large opportunity in the telecom sector both in India and global markets with the new cycle of investments in 5G and fiber-based broadband rollouts," it said.

"Tejas will utilise the proceeds raised from preferential allotment to invest organically and inorganically in research and development, sales and marketing, people, infrastructure, and to enhance its manufacturing and operational capabilities to cater to this large market opportunity, and for other general corporate purpose," it added.

Sanjay Nayak, CEO and Managing Director, said the company was started with a vision of creating a top-tier global telecom equipment company from India.

"The association with Tata group will accelerate the realisation of this vision and enable us to address the large market opportunity available to us to build a financially strong global company, backed by a trusted brand. I am fully committed to making this a success and am excited about the next phase of our journey."

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company is acting as the manager to the open offer and Khaitan & Co is acting as the legal advisor to the transaction.

Tejas Networks designs, develops and sells high-performance networking products to telecommunications service providers, internet service providers, utilities, defence and government entities in over 75 countries.

Its products utilise programmable, software-defined hardware architecture with a common software code-base that delivers seamless upgrades of new features and technology standards.

The company is ranked among top 10 suppliers in the global optical aggregation segment and has filed over 349 patents.

( With inputs from ANI )