Mumbai, Feb. 10 -- CVC Capital Partners, Advent International, Carlyle and Temasek are among private equity firms evaluating the acquisition of EQT Partners' 40% stake in healthtech firm CitiusTech in a potential deal likely at around $1 billion, three people familiar with the matter said. Others such as Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) and Blackstone are also evaluating the asset, two of the three people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. The people added that JP Morgan is conducting the sale process. "While no bids have been placed, the process has been initiated to gauge market interest even as the IT services industry undergoes a challenging time," a third person said, adding that the transaction is still in early stages and the contours are still being decided. The development comes against the backdrop of a consolidation in the broader information technology (IT) services industry, which has seen various mergers and acquisitions over the recent years. The move further underscores the company's plans to explore various acquisitions to establish its market presence ahead of a planned public listing in the near term. Blackstone, EQT, JP Morgan, Carlyle, Advent and Temasek declined to comment, while emails sent to Citius Tech, CVC, and OTPP did not elicit a response till the time of publishing. In March 2014, CitiusTech had raised capital from General Atlantic. Baring Private Equity Asia, rebranded EQT in 2022, acquired a majority stake in Citius Tech through its India pool of capital in 2019. In 2022, Bain Capital's private equity arm joined CitiusTech's capitalization table after buying a portion of EQT's stake in the company. If the latest process goes as planned, it would mark EQT's complete exit from its seven-year-old investment in the company. To be clear, CitiusTech's current shareholders each hold roughly a 40% stake in the company, with the remaining held by the promoters and employees, as per online reports. Other prominent deals in the IT services space include Zensar's potential stake in Mastek, PAG evaluating an investment in Accion Labs, Happiest Minds' co-founder Ashok Soota exploring a stake sale in the company, as per various reports. Founded in 2005 by Rizwan Koita and Jagdish Moorjani, Mumbai-based CitiusTech provides a broad range of digital healthcare technology and consulting services to more than 130 leading global healthcare and life sciences organizations....