GAP weighs two-step IT deal.

Byline: David Carey

With its right hand, General Atlantic Partners LLC might exit Atlantic Data Services Inc., a company it's held since 1988. With its left hand, the private equity shop is ready to take the company private for next to nothing.

First, the exit: One of the firm's early investment vehicles, General Atlantic Partners II LP, holds 3,125,080 shares of Atlantic Data, a Quincy, Mass.-based information-technology consultant. Atlantic Data announced Monday, May 5, that a group -- including its chairman and CEO, Robert Howe, and General Atlantic Partners -- was weighing an offer to take the company private for about $3 a share.

General …