Indra to start process to sell stake in tech unit Minsait Payments

(Reuters) - Spanish defence and technology firm Indra’s board agreed to start looking for options to sell a stake in its Minsait Payments business, the company said on Monday in a filing to the stock market regulator. 

The board’s decision to launch a formal process to examine options for the payments processing platform follows the announcement in March it would increase the autonomy of its tech unit Minsait, of which Minsait Payments is only a part, and open its ownership to new strategic shareholders to speed up its growth.

In August, newspaper Expansion reported that buyout fund Cinven offered between 500 million euros and 600 million euros ($557-668 million) for Minsait Payments.

Indra, which is 28% owned by the Spanish government, has said it will focus on its defence and aerospace business to benefit from European countries’ increased military budgets following heightening world tensions, while seeking partners to its civilian tech businesses.

($1 = 0.8983 euros)

(Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio in Gdansk, editing by Inti Landauro and Louise Heavens)