ABN Amro acquires 3.56 lakh shares of Infosys

Mumbai: ABN Amro Bank NV has bought 3.56 lakh shares in IT major Infosys for over Rs59 crore in open the market.

The foreign fund acquired 3.56 lakh equity shares of Infosys at a price of Rs1,660 each in a block deal on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

In a separate deal, JF Asset Management sold 3.56 lakh equity shares of Infosys at the same price. Both the deals were materialised, just a day before Infosys' announced their third quarter results.

Infosys, India's second-largest software exporter by revenue, reported a 25.2 per cent jump in the third quarter profit from the year-ago period. Infosys profit rose to Rs1,231 crore ($314 million)  for the quarter ended 31 December 2008, or Rs21.54 a share. Revenue increased 16.9 per cent to Rs4,271 crore, helped by the addition of 47 new clients.

The company also raised its full-year earnings forecast to Rs8,107 crore from Rs7,949 previously and increased its revenue projection to a minimum of Rs16,627 crore from Rs16,588 crore earlier.

Infosys Technologies also added 11,683 employees into its payroll for the December quarter taking the total number to over 27,000 so far this financial year.

The company had inducted 8,543 (gross) employees for the second quarter ending September 30, 2007, and 7,004 people in the June quarter of this fiscal. Besides, it has added 11,683 employees during the third quarter of this fiscal taking the total figure to 27,230.