Indian outsourcer assumes Citicorp's portion of Progeon Indian software and services outsourcer Infosys Technologies Ltd. announced Thursday that it will pay about US$115 million for Citicorp International Finance Corp.’s 23 percent stake in Progeon Ltd., a BPO (business process outsourcing) company in which Infosys has a majority holding.Progeon’s operations are very tightly integrated with those of Infosys, and it was preferable to buy out Citicorp’s stake rather than give it an exit option down the line through an IPO (initial public offering), said V. Balakrishnan, company secretary and senior vice president of finance at Infosys.Citicorp, a Citigroup Inc. company, entered as a strategic investor to help Infosys get Progeon business, but the relationship did not work as planned. “It turned out to be more of a financial investment,” said Balakrishnan, who takes over as Infosys’ chief financial officer at the beginning of May. Citigroup of New York and its businesses are not Progeon customers, he added. Progeon will continue as an Infosys subsidiary, Balakrishnan said.Infosys, of Bangalore, will buy all of Citicorp’s holding in Progeon, amounting to 8.75 million shares, in cash. The transaction is expected to be completed by July, the company said.Citigroup acquired the stake for $20 million in 2002, when Infosys set up Progeon as part of the company’s diversification into the booming BPO market. The company said at the time that its entry into BPO was important to its strategy to be an end-to-end services provider. Progeon had over 7,000 employees as of March 31. Technology Industry