New Delhi, May 20 -- Blackstone has pledged its entire 30.55% stake in Mphasis Ltd and raised an estimated $700 million, an executive said, to refinance a loan taken to fund the private equity firm's buyout of the Indian-listed IT services company.

The direct pledge of Blackstone's entire holding in Mphasis is arguably the first instance of an IT services company owner using shares as collateral for loans.

Singapore-based promoter entity BCP Topco IX Pvt Ltd, a Blackstone-owned entity, borrowed money from a group of nine banks - Citibank, Barclays, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas, MUFG, and Nomura.

Each of these banks is represented by Catalyst Trusteeship Ltd, which informed the stock exchanges on Tuesday th...