The private equity major Blackstone Group formed a new venture by acquiring 55 per cent stakes in IT infrastructure management and outsourcing unit of Mumbai-based CMS Computers. It would deal in card solutions, transaction printing solutions and ATM cash management. The company is believed to be valued at Rs 500-550 crore. CMS is among the top 5 IT infrastructure management companies in India which was founded in 1976 by Ramesh Grover, Varun Prasad and S Ramadorai.

Rajiv Kaul is appointed as a CEO who is reported to have minority stakes of 5 percent in the company. He was serving as a global partner with London-based Actis Capital LLP before his appointment as CEO. He also served Microsoft for over 10 years and held position of senior director for emerging markets including BRIC based in Redmond, the US.

The current investment is the second investment by Blackstone in IT sector of country. It had earlier acquired 80 per cent stake in the Mumbai-based BPO firm Intelenet Global Services last year. The chairman and senior managing director of Blackstone Advisors India, Akhil Gupta said, "We are enthusiastic about this investment as we believe CMS is a market leader and well-positioned to capitalise on the growth opportunity in the IT infrastructure and the outsourcing services market in India."