SE IN ALLIANCE WITH TCS
The Indian Express
Inter-connected Stock Exchange of India Ltd (ISE) has appointed Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to provide software solutions for its planned trading platform. ISE, promoted by 13 regional stock exchanges will be offering cost-effective trading, clearing and settlement, risk management and surveillance support to over 800 trading members across 79 cities.
AIRTEL PARTNERS WITH NOVATIUM TO EXPAND BROADBAND BUSINESS
Chennai
Financial Chronicle Mail Today
Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel today entered into a partnership with cloud computing service provider Novatium to expand its broadband business in India.
Under the tie-up, Novatium would offer cloud computing - internet-based computing services - Airtel Net PC, for Airtel broadband customers in India, Bharti Airtel Telemedia Services-CMO Vikas Singh told reporters here. Singh said they would launch the service in 11 cities (starting from Chennai) over the next six months.
INDIAN COMPANIES M&A DEALS TOUCH $1.7 BN IN APRIL
New Delhi
Financial Chronicle
Indian companies’ merger and acquisition deal activity stood at $1.74 billion in April taking the total M&A kitty so far this year to $21 billion. According to the monthly deal report of VCCEdge, the financial research platform of VCCircle.com, the M&A deal value during April stood at $1.74 billion rose 57% over the same period last year. The deal count also witnessed an upward trend and increased to 49 in April compared to 28 in the year-ago period.
The month of April saw as many as 25 domestic deals worth $815 million, compared to 13 deals worth $603 million in the year-ago period, the report said. Besides, the number of outbound deals more than doubled from eight in April 2009 to 18 this year, the number of inbound deals although remained almost unchanged with five deals in April this year as against seven deals witnessed last year during the same time.
In terms of deal volume, the most active sector was information technology, which cornered 10 deals followed by consumer goods maker and manufacturing with eight deals each in April 2010.
HCL TECH TIES UP WITH STELLAR ASIA
New Delhi
Business Standard The Telegraph
HCL Tech and Stellar Asia Pacific on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership to expand business in Australia and Asia-Pacific markets. The alliance — aimed at providing customers with business services outsourcing proposition — will leverage HCL's back-office and technology product capabilities and Stellar's customer relationship management services, a company release said.
With a focus on managing customer relationships, Stellar's current offerings range from front office services (such as customer service support and directory assistance) to automated back-office support services and solutions. As part of the alliance, the two would target specific industry segments such as banking and financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing, utilities services, retail and media.
INVENSYS ACQUIRES BANGALORE COMPANY
Bangalore
The Times of India (Bangalore edition)
Skelta Software, a Bangalore-based software product development company, has been acquired by Invensys Operations Management (IOM), a US-based provider of technology systems, software solutions and consulting services to the manufacturing and infrastructure operations industries. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
Skelta, founded in 2003 and which has 130 employees, provides enterprise-wide business process management (BPM) and advanced workflow software solutions. "This acquisition further extends our enterprise control system strategy," Sudipta Bhattacharya, CEO of IOM, was quoted as saying in a release. Sanjay Shah, CEO of Skelta Software, said that being acquired by an "industry-leading multinational company recognizes that our technology is leading edge".
54% OF INDIAN FIRMS KEEN TO ACQUIRE COMPANIES IN 12 MONTHS
Deepti Chaudhary, Bangalore
Mint
After lying low for nearly two years, Indian companies are once again hunting for acquisitions, a new study shows. Audit firm Ernst and Young’s (E&Y) April study measuring confidence in the global economy shows that in India, 54% of the companies surveyed have said they are likely or highly likely to acquire other companies in the next 12 months. That’s nearly double the number of firms that were considering acquisitions six months ago. E&Y surveyed 58 mid- to top-tier companies in India for its study.
Confidence is growing in the Indian mergers and acquisitions (M&As) space, with the focus shifting away from divestments, says E&Y’s latest Capital Confidence Barometer. M&As by Indian companies fell sharply during the downturn and are still to recover. The E&Y study points to a return of confidence among local firms as the business environment improves.
However, Indian firms say they cannot afford to avoid overseas buys. Sasken’s Mody, for instance, says Europe contributes 30-35% to revenue and the firm needed a foothold there. “Nokia is a key customer and it would not have been with us if we had not acquired the Finnish firm.”
JINDALS PICK UP 10% IN DESCON
Sambit Saha, Calcutta
The Telegraph
JSW Group has bought into city-based IT firm Descon by scooping up a 10 percent stake held by DPSC Ltd in back-to-back deals that turned one-time fierce competitors into close collaborators. The $3.7-billion group, having interests in steel, power and infrastructure, is also in talks with three other shareholders of Descon to take management control.
SYMANTEC IN PACT WITH AIRTEL
The Financial Express
Symantec, developer of Norton Internet Security solutions, and telecom services provider Bharti Airtel, in collaboration with Lotaris, a Swiss mobile Internet security service provider, have launched Norton Smartphone Security for Airtel's mobile customers in India, a release said.
INFOTECH, WESTINGHOUSE TIE UP
Hyderabad
The Economic Times
Infotech Enterprises Ltd, a geo-spatial and engineering services company, has finalised a deal with the nuclear energy company, Westinghouse Electric Co, that would enable the former to explore the opportunities in the nuclear energy business. “Infotech will augment the engineering resources of Westinghouse as it prepares for global nuclear energy business growth and will lay the foundation for Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plant work in India,” B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director, Infotech Enterprises Ltd, said.
RELIANCE
Mumbai
Reliance Communications Ltd,
RP INFOSYSTEMS TO BUY 46% IN ONTRACK
Sutanuka Ghosal & Debjoy Sengupta, Kolkata
The Economic Times (Kolkata edition)
The Rs 918-crore RP Infosystems, makers of the Chirag brand of low-cost PCs, is scouting for acquisitions in the software and ISP space. For starters, this emerging computer hardware and networking solutions provider from the east is poised to buy a 46% stake in city-based Ontrack Systems, which is into web services, software development, training and BPO services. It has also sounded out local software developer Descon to acquire its ISP business. Descon is the software arm of DPSC Ltd, which distributes power to industrial installations in pockets of
RP Infosystems chairman Kaustuv Roy said: “We’ve finalised the deal with Ontrack Systems. At its April 12 board meeting, Ontrack decided to raise funds. It will issue preferential shares to RP Infosystems once it gets Sebi clearance. The proposal is likely to be approved at Ontrack’s May 13 AGM.”
INTEGRA ACQUIRES US’ SILVER EDITIONS FOR UNDER $4 MILLION
Hemamalini Venkatraman, Chennai
The Economic Times
After long-drawn negotiations, Integra Software Services (Integra) has acquired US-based Silver Editions, a design studio and publishing services company in the PreK-12 segment. The deal size is estimated to be under $4 million. Two other Indian players, bigger than Integra, were also in the fray.
Integra founder and chairman-CEO Sriram Subramanya confirmed the transaction to ET on Tuesday. However, he did not divulge the deal size. The funding has been “through internal accruals,” he added. It has taken Integra almost over two years to complete the 100% acquisition. For now, it will operate as Silver Editions (an Integra company). The name change process is expected to take about a year’s time.
MPHASIS: PURCHASE WON’T FORTIFY NUMBERS IN SHORT TERM
Ranjit Shinde
The Economic Times
Remote IT solutions provider Fortify Infrastructure Services has a smaller size of operations. Hence, its acquisition will not have any significant influence on MphasiS’ short-term financials.
The MphasiS management hopes that the deal will improve its presence in the fast-growing segment of outcome-based remote operations management.
MphasiS has paid over $15.5 million (approximately Rs 70.5 crore) to own 100% in Fortify. The deal size may increase in future since MphasiS has agreed to make performance-based payments to Fortify in two tranches over the next two years. There is no clarity on the size of these payments or earnouts. Therefore, it is difficult to ascertain the total size of the deal.
NETAPP TO ACQUIRE BYCAST
Bangalore
The Hindu Business Line
NetApp, provider of innovative storage and data management solutions, on Thursday announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bycast Inc., a privately held company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in an all-cash transaction.
Bycast is a leading developer of object-based storage software designed to manage petabyte-scale, globally distributed repositories of images, video, and records for enterprises and service providers. With the acquisition of Bycast, NetApp broadens its capabilities in serving key verticals such as digital media, Web 2.0, healthcare, and cloud services providers and helps customers create even greater efficiencies across data centres around the globe, a company press release said.
AI IN $190-M DEAL WITH SITA FOR PASSENGER SERVICE PLATFORM
Mumbai
The Financial Express The Hindu Business Line
National Aviation Company of India (Nacil), which runs national carrier Air India, has roped in SITA, an aviation IT specialist, to provide it a Horizon passenger services system (PSS) on a turnkey basis following a global competitive tendering process. The deal with the 13.5-million passenger airline is valued at $190 million (Rs 874 crore), and has a tenure of 10 years.
SITA’s Horizon platform provides hosted PSS services to 140 airlines boarding 120 million passengers and will be used to deliver a single airline code in order to allow the seamless integration of the former domestic carrier, Indian Airlines, with Air India for the first time since they merged in August 2007. Another early deliverable will enable Air India to meet the requirements for joining the Star Alliance.
$75 MILLION SPHERIS SALE TO CBAY HITS ROADBLOCK
Kumar Shankar Roy, Kolkata
Financial Chronicle
CBay Group's chief executive Raman Kumar's $75 million attempt to buy key business of bankrupt medical technology US firm Spheris may get stuck with Larry Ellison-led Oracle, globally the second biggest software maker, voicing its displeasure over the deal.
Oracle America has objected to the proposed sale (of selected asset and liabilities) of Spheris to CBay, saying it wants the US court to refuse any provision that would allow for the 'unauthorised' transfer of Oracle's software. Oracle is a creditor and contract counter-party in the Spheris bankruptcy case. According to Oracle, the purchase agreement between CBay and Spheris contemplates amongst other things a transition services agreement, which could grant the acquirer(s) and Spheris rights to allow simultaneous use of, and access to, Oracle’s software.
MARG, VIRGINIA TECH TIE UP TO SET UP VARSITY CAMPUS
Chennai
The Hindu Business Line
The Chennai-based Marg Ltd has entered into a joint venture with Virginia Tech University of the US to set up a campus at Marg Swarnabhoomi, the SEZ and township to the south of Chennai.
Addressing a press conference, G.R.K. Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director, Marg Ltd, said the company has entered into an agreement with the Virginia Tech to set up Virginia Tech Swarnabhoomi, India, at Marg Swarnabhoomi coming up on the East Coast Road, about 60 km south of Chennai.
The joint venture provides for setting up a Virginia Tech University campus offering masters and doctorate programmes here. It will be finalised once the regulatory issue and law on foreign universities is in place.
IKF TECH, WAPMERR IN PACT
Kolkata
The Hindu Business Line The Hindu
IKF Technologies Ltd has entered into an agreement with WAPMERR-India, a developer of geo-information technologies to take up projects related to Geographic Information System (GIS) and Marketing Information System (MIS). “We have jointly bid for six projects, funded by different state governments and city administrative departments,” C.S Jalan, MD, IFK Technologies, said. The projects, spanning across Western India, Bihar and Chennai, mostly dealt with disaster management services, he pointed out.
GSS AMERICA EYEING $60-M ACQUISITION
Hyderabad
The Hindu Business Line
GSS America, a managed IT services company, has said that it is in talks with a few players from the US and India for a possible $50-60 million acquisition, in the next financial year. The company is looking to add strengths in areas such as security and application management solutions.
“We have taken a nod from the EGM recently to raise up to $75 million. We will decide on the fund-raising plan in the first quarter of next financial year (the company's financial year begins in June),” Bhargav Marepally, Chief Executive Officer of GSS America, said.
IBM INKS DEAL WITH IYOGI
Financial Chronicle
IBM on Tuesday announced that it has signed a data centre agreement with iYogi, a leading provider of direct-to-consumer and small business remote tech support. The implementation would enable iYogi to scale its hardware infrastructure to address the growing business demand for its remote tech support services across the globe, IBM said in a statement.
HCL TECH-ELECTROLUX PACT
Hindustan Times Financial Chronicle Business Standard The Statesman
HCL Technologies on Monday said it has signed a five-year IT infrastructure management contract with home appliances maker Electrolux. As part of the deal, HCL will support Electrolux’s workplace services including proactive monitoring and management of network, servers, IT security and end-user computing environment in the Asia Pacific region, including Australia, HCL Technologies said in a statement. The deal size was, however, not disclosed. #end
INDIA INC ANNOUNCES $14 BILLION M&A DEALS IN JUST 45 DAYS IN 2010
New Delhi
The Economic Times
India Inc has once again started to splurge this year with the domestic firms announcing merger and acquisition deals worth a whopping $14 billion in just 45 days.
The way the companies have begun shopping, it looks the year 2010 is all set to overtake the M&A deal tally of 2009 by a huge margin. In just 45-days of 2010 India Inc has announced deals worth $14 billion, while in the year 2009, corporate India made deals worth a modest $11.9 billion.
According to the monthly deal report of VCCEdge, a financial research provider, the M&A deal value during January 2010 stood at $2.8 billion and yesterday's $10.7 billion Bharti-Zain offer, wherein Bharti intends to buy Kuwait-based Zain telecom's mobile operations in Africa, takes the total kitty to over $14 billion.
In terms of deal size, the Bharti-Zain deal would be the third largest transaction involving an Indian firm after an estimated $13.5 billion offer by Reliance to get control of the bankrupt petrochemicals firm LyondellBasell Industries (which is currently under discussion) and the Tata Steel's takeover of Europe-based Corus for $12 billion.
The Bharti-Zain deal could catapult Bharti Airtel in the league of world's top 10 telecom operators.
Bharti has entered into exclusive talks with Zain for acquiring its African operations based on an enterprise value of $10.7 billion, the telecom major said in a statement today.
This is Bharti's third attempt in the last two years to enter the African market. In September 2009, Bharti's talk with MTN for a $23-billion merger deal fell apart due to various regulatory hurdles, including dual listing. Last month it had bought a 70 percent stake in Bangladesh's Warid Telecom.
Some of the other mega M&A deals involving an Indian entity are -- the Vodafone Hutchison deal ($10.8 billion), the Hindalco-Novelis transaction ($6 billion), Daiichi- Ranbaxy ($4.50 billion), ONGC-Imperial ($2.80 billion) and NTT DOCOMO-Tata Teleservices ($2.70 billion).
In 2009, the global economic slowdown forced corporate India to look largely within the country for merger and acquisitions, as domestic deals accounted for about 60 percent of the $12-billion worth of deals.
INDIA INC TO SPREAD WINGS VIA TAKEOVERS
Ranjana Kaushal, New Delhi, February 15, 2010
Mail Today
At a time when the western world is looking at the growth in the emerging economies as a bailout from the recession, Indian companies have been aggressively pursuing their outbound merger and acquisition (M& A) deals. So much so that industry veterans predict domestic multi- national companies (MNCs) could gain prominent position in global landscape by 2015.
A study, conducted by Grant Thornton and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), points out that by 2015, one third of the world’s top- 500 companies will be from emerging markets.
Said D. S. Brar, chairman, GVK Biosciences, “ In Asia, the gross domestic product (GDP) strength is shifting to India and China and I see this as a huge opportunity for companies.
This is a good time for companies to buy assets in developed markets. The assets firstly come at a low price and have huge technical leg- up. Companies can use these two advantages for expansion.” According to the study, there will be a graded shift of wealth and economic power from the developed to the emerging nations over the next two decades. The tilt has been reflecting in the figures of outbound investments from India starting 2006 when the figure of outbound investments stood at $ 9.1 billion compared to the inbound investments of $ 5.4 billion.
In 2008, the figures were $ 32 billion and $ 15 billion respectively. By the end of the decade, the share of emerging markets will increase to 40- 50 per cent of the global economy and markets, the CII- Grant Thornton report added.
In 2009, there were as many as 156 cross- border deals worth $ 5.26 billion compared to 174 domestic deals with an additional value of $ 6.70 billion. Cross- border deals account for 44 per cent of the total M& A deal volume and 47 per cent of the value in 2009.
Brar added, “ Sectors such as pharma, IT and automobiles will be front runner as far as outbound deals are concerned.
However, sectors namely hospitality and steel also have a huge potential.” The first half of 2009 saw 64 cross- border deals amounting to $ 1.42 billion while second half recorded nearly two and half times the value of the first half garnering $ 3.8 billion through 92 deals. The average value of inbound deal was $ 52.50 million and for outbound deals the figure was $ 16.78 million.
WIPRO EYES ACQUISITIONS IN HEALTHCARE, TELECOM SECTORS
Mumbai
Business Standard
Wipro today said it is scouting for acquisitions in the telecom, healthcare and energy utilities segment in the near future.
“We are looking out for acquisitions in niche segments like telecom, healthcare and energy utilities in the coming years. We will be growing through both organic and inorganic routes,” Wipro Joint CEO-IT Business Girish Paranjpe said on the sidelines of the Nasscom summit here.
He, however, did not specify the timeframe, amount earmarked or the geographies it was eyeing for acquisitions.
MPHASIS LOOKS OUT FOR MORE ACQUISITIONS
Thanuja BM, Mumbai
Financial Chronicle
Six months after buying AIG Systems Solutions (AIGSS), IT/BPO firm MphasiS is looking for more acquisitions. Company CEO Ganesh Ayyar said the company is pursuing a “string of pearls” strategy for acquisitions. “Basically, we are looking for small companies in the sub-$100 million category to give us market reach,'' he said.
The company says that while buyouts will be in any of the three areas it works in – applications, BPO and infrastructure technology outsourcing (ITO) – the verticals they are looking at are banking, capital markets, healthcare, insurance and telecom business support systems.
Ayyar said that the company has a small internal team working with external consultants in scanning the radar both in
At start of 2009, the company had a cash position of about $10 million, which has now grown to $200 million. The CEO opines that it gives us options and helps our strategy.
Unlike most other Indian IT firms, MphasiS has been very active in the acquisition space since inception. The company is also focusing on building platforms and component frameworks in the user experience segment.” A platform solution in healthcare was launched in previous quarter and more in different sectors are on the anvil,” Gopinathan Padmanabhan, president - applications, MphasiS.
ZENSAR TECH MAY GO FOR ONE BIG ACQUISITION BY SEPTEMBER
K.V. Kurmanath, Adith Charlie, Mumbai
The Hindu Business Line
Zensar Technologies will complete at least one $40-85 million acquisition by September.
“We are looking at companies in the
“We may go for one big ticket acquisition or go for two in the range of $40-$45 million,” he said.
It has completed the remaining of its planned investment through a fourth and final transaction of Rs 2,020 crore into Unitech Wireless.
Deal pipeline
Dr Natarajan, who was here to attend the three-day Nasscom meet, said the company was looking at companies in ERP support, infra-management, application support and tech help. Zensar would fall back on the Rs 160-crore surplus and borrow to fund the acquisitions.
He said the company has a $100-million deal pipeline, which include three-four deals with a size of $10 million. “We signed $25-30 million worth deals in the last two months,” he said. The company saw a revival in business growth from the
Hiring
He said the company was planning to hire 1,000 more people next year, taking the total number of employees to over 6,000. “We have added 200 in the last two months and there are 300 more openings this financial year. He said the hikes in the compensations had begun to happen again. From 6 percent last year, the average hikes grew to 8-10 percent this year.
Dr Natarajan said
“We are expanding to
RADIFINITY ARM JOINS ADITYA BIRLA MINACS TO START NEW UNIT
The Hindu Business Line
Bangalore-based technology solutions provider Radifinity's Physical Asset Management Services and Consultancy arm founders have been brought into Aditya Birla Minacs to start the similar practice under the Aditya Birla umbrella.
The founders along with key technical staff of Radifinity have joined Aditya Birla Minacs (ABM) to start the new business unit.
Radifinity was incubated at the N.S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning of IIM-B.
The founders will bring their domain expertise, contracts and existing client relationships, while ABM will provide them a wider canvas in terms of global presence, Fortune 500 clients and access to Aditya Birla Group companies.
The new business unit will focus on delivering physical asset management solutions to customers worldwide by deploying technologies such as RFID, global positioning, wireless technologies such as GPRS, GSM and so on.
Jaideep Krishnan, Founder of Radifinity, said, “This is a great initiative on multiple levels. The infusion of asset management into Minacs' portfolio enhances Minacs ability to reach niche market sectors and provides a leg up in these sectors by enhancing The Managed Services armoire.
“Radifinity's management team gets a shot in the arm to leverage a larger platform and deliver solutions with a bigger thrust.”
MORE MERGER DEALS SEEN THIS YEAR
Kolkata, February 8, 2010
The Telegraph
The merger and acquisition (M&A) market is set to revive globally this year with the corporates’ appetite for deal-making increasing at a slow but steady pace.
A recent survey by global consulting firm KPMG revealed the same.
“The latest predictor numbers point to a slow but assured improvement in the global deals market over the next 12 months even though credit markets remain tight,” the report said.
Mirroring the trend in the global M&A space, India is also witnessing a jump in the quality and quantum of conversations around potential transactions, it adds.
According to Rohit Kapoor, head (corporate finance), KPMG India, “There is a guarded optimism in the boardrooms on inorganic growth initiatives and during the year we expect this to manifest into a healthier level of transactional activities.”
The domestic private equity space seems to have become active again, indicating deals will substantially increase this year.
“We are already starting to see a high volume of deal flow. Recovery in the domestic equity markets means private equity firms will continue to have concerns on valuation expectations and face significant competition from public markets,” KPMG head for private equity advisory, Vikram Utamsingh, said.
However, according to Dealogic statistics, the value of M&A activity worldwide fell 19 percent in January.
Faster growing regions such as Asia and Latin America show a rise in deal volumes, in contrast to the US and Europe.
Dealogic, which monitors M&A activity, said 2,637 deals were done in January 2010, down from 3,181 in the same period a year ago.
Healthcare is the leading sector for deal activity in January, followed by telecom, oil and gas.
GENPACT IN TALKS TO ACQUIRE INTELENET GLOBAL SERVICES
N Shivapriya, Mumbai
The Economic Times
Private equity investors in the country’s top back-office firm Genpact have initiated talks to explore a potential acquisition of Intelenet Global Services, at least two people familiar with the discussions said last week.
The talks are being held between financial investors at Genpact and Blackstone, which holds a little under 80% in Intelenet, one of the persons who spoke with ET on condition of anonymity, added. Genpact is the country’s largest BPO firm and has investments from private equity player General Atlantic and other investors, which hold nearly half of the firm. Intelenet is the country’s 14th-largest BPO firm.
The acquisition is of interest to Genpact because of the ability to derisk its revenues, which are still significantly dependent on its one-time parent, General Electric (GE), and consequently improve valuations, the person said. GE contributes around 40% of Genpact’s revenues. “Intelenet’s India business is the chief attraction to Genpact, but Blackstone is not willing to sell that alone,” the second person told ET. He said the potential transaction value could be $600-750 million.
Intelenet’s executive vice-president, Sandeep Aggarwal, said the information was incorrect and the company was not aware of it, and a senior Blackstone official responded to ET’s query saying: “I cannot comment on speculation.” A mail sent to Genpact did not receive a response till the time of writing. However, an executive with Genpact’s public relations agency said the company does not comment on market speculation and was also in the silent period ahead of its results.
Genpact, a late entrant to the India market, has not been very successful in scaling up its domestic business. Intelenet, on the other hand, has an established domestic BPO business under Sparsh BPO, an acquisition it made in 2006. Sparsh is listed on the domestic stock exchanges and had a net profit of Rs 48 lakh on revenues of Rs 61 crore for the September 2009 quarter, according to a BSE filing.
“Slowdown in the western markets has compelled internationally-focussed BPO firms to seriously evaluate risk diversification strategies. Focus will turn to markets that hold innate potential for size as well as growth,” said Alok Shende, principal analyst, Ascentius Consulting.
GE, which holds 18% in the company, is also said to be interested in exiting its holdings. Genpact’s GE business has been under strain and its substantial contribution to revenue has been a cause of concern. Reducing GE exposure and getting a foothold in the rapidly growing domestic market will fetch Genpact’s private equity investors, General Atlantic and Oak Hill Capital Partners, which are said to be keen on exiting, a better valuation.
INDIA EQUITY PARTNERS TO BUY 25% IN IETS FOR RS 140 CRORE
Arun Kumar, New Delhi, January 25, 2010
The Economic Times
New York-based India Equity Partners is set to acquire a 25% stake in IL&FS Education and Technology Services (IETS) for little over Rs 140 crore.
IETS is an education and cluster development initiative of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Service (IL&FS). Two officials, involved in the deal, said on the condition of anonymity, the private equity firm would pick up nearly 20% in secondary sale by the three existing partners and 5% will be acquired through fresh issue of shares by IETS.
Orix Corporation of Japan, HDFC and Sera Fund are divesting their entire stake in favour of India Equity Partners, said a senior executive.
The current paid-up capital of IETS is Rs 32.31 crore, comprises of 3.23 crore equity shares of each. A senior executive involved in the deal said on the condition of anonymity India Equity Partners was picking up stake at Rs 175 per share resulting into a total valuation of Rs 560 crore.
Both the company is expected to make the announcement shortly, said a senior executive. The education sector is going to be very exciting in India, said head of a private equity, who has also explored the possibility of investing into the company. “Given the growth rate and huge opportunities, the sector would witness a large numbers of mid-size transactions,” he added.
Sid Khanna, chairman and managing director of India Equity Partners, refused to comment. Despite several attempt, IL&FS chairman and managing director Ravi Parthasarthy could not be reached.
EXCISE DUTY HIKE LIKELY FOR ALL, CENVAT MAY GO UP 2%
Surabhi, New Delhi, January 25, 2010
The Economic Times
The government is considering an across-the-board increase in excise duty in the Union budget 2010-11, as it faces pressure to withdraw fiscal stimulus measures in the wake of a 16-year high fiscal deficit of 6.8% in the current financial year.
“One option being considered is an increase in cenvat rate by 2% while leaving the service tax rate unchanged at 10%,” a finance ministry official told ET. Cenvat refers to the median excise duty, tax on manufacture of goods, levied on nearly 90% of the goods made in the country.
More services could be brought under the tax net to allow the government to keep service tax rates unchanged, the official said, requesting anonymity. A hike in service tax rate would be an immediate burden on consumers already battling high food prices. The proposal is at an early stage and may undergo significant changes by the time the budget is presented.
An alternate proposal is also under consideration, which moots an increase in excise rates in sectors that are doing well such as automobiles, instead of an across-the-board hike.
The economy is recovering from an economic downturn induced by a global recession, which forced the government to cut taxes and increase spending to boost demand. The Reserve Bank of India is keeping policy rates at record low levels to encourage economic activity.
PROGRESS SOFT ACQUIRES SAVVION INC
Chennai/Hyderabad
Business Standard
Application infrastructure software provider Progress Software Corporation, which has its India operations based out of Hyderabad, has acquired Savvion Inc, a California-based business enterprise software developer, for $49 million (approximately Rs 225 crore).
“Our acquisition of Savvion enhances our goal to provide unprecedented business visibility, responsiveness and business process improvement, coupled with highest degree of data integrity and integration,” Rick Reidy, president and chief executive of Progress Software, stated in a press release on Tuesday.
Progress Software, which employs 1,800 globally, has a workforce of 250 in Hyderabad. It has invested $10 million (around Rs 46 crore) in its Hyderabad facility over the last five years.
The company has revised its business outlook, reflecting the anticipated impact from the acquisition of Savvion. It expects its GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) revenues to be in the range of $538 million (Rs 2,474crore) to $548 million (Rs 2,520 crore) for the fiscal ending November 30, 2010.
Progress Software expects to issue aggregate of approximately 110,000 equity shares to six Savvion employees, who have joined Progress as part of the acquisition.
BHARTI-LIMELIGHT LINK UP TO DELIVER MULTIMEDIA SERVICES
Leslie D'Monte, Mumbai
Financial Chronicle The Telegraph
India’s largest private telecom company, Bharti Airtel, wants to help international players deliver multimedia content to Indian players, while simultaneously helping local companies to deliver content to foreign ones. It has tied up with Limelight Networks to launch content delivery network (CDN) services in the country. Limelight is the second-largest CDN player globally in terms of revenues.
The combine will set up servers in Chennai and Mumbai, that complement Airtel’s existing network infrastructure that enables it access to undersea cables via international cable landing stations at these two cities, according to Ajay Chitkara, CEO, Global Data Business, Bharti Airtel.
A CDN, according to Frost & Sullivan analysts, basically comprises technology and services that enable the rapid and uninterrupted flow of content from the origin server to the end user. There are over 20 CDN vendors, including big names like Akamai, Internap, Limelight Networks, SyncCast, BitGravity, Velocix and even Amazon. The market for CDN services in Asia is estimated to be $350 milion by 2014, while the CDN market in India is expected to be $100 million (Rs 455 crore).
Limelight Networks and Bharti Airtel will offer their customers “the ability to create a high-quality experience for their end-users — whether they’re watching an HD movie, making an online purchase, listening to music, playing a video game, or downloading a software package”.
“Over the last few years, internet usage has completely changed from using simple text to more of multimedia options (video, games, etc). Today, users expect online video, music, images, and software to behave just like content accessed by turning on a TV, playing a CD or DVD, or loading an application from a hard drive,” reasons Chitkara.
Limelight Networks would get access to one of the fastest growing emerging markets, says George Fraser, its Vice-President (EMEA & Asia).
The company’s architecture includes a dedicated optical network that connects thousands of servers around the world with over 900 last-mile access networks and 25 delivery centres. It has “eight years of experience in successfully delivering some of the largest live and on-demand events in the history of the internet, including the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2009 inauguration speech of US President Obama,” said Fraser.
PROGRESS SOFT BUYS SAVVION
The Hindu Business Line
Progress Software Corporation, the US-based company, has acquired Savvion Inc, a privately held business enterprise software company based in
The business process management technology company had 300 clients, including 24 Fortune-100 companies, Rick Reidy, President and Chief Executive Officer, Progress Software, said here in a statement.
“The Savvion BPM suite is a perfect fit for Progress,” Dr John Bates, Chief Technology Officer of Progress Software, said.
AGILE LABS TEAMS UP WITH US CO SYNAPTRIS
T.E. Raja Simhan, Chennai
The Hindu Business Line
Two small companies have joined hands to tap the global market to save cost and manpower.
The US-based Synaptris and the Bangalore-based Agile Labs have signed a joint go-to market partnership to deliver data reporting solutions to Agile's global customers.
While Synaptris is a software product company, Agile is an independent software vendor that provide application development framework for its clients to build industry/business-specific solutions.
This includes enterprise resource planning, supply chain management and customer relationship management.
Synaptris will use Agile's framework to build software solutions.
On the other hand, Agile will bundle Synaptris' IntelliVIEW, a single platform for real-time reporting, dashboards and analysis. This will help customers to work on huge volumes of data collated on day-to-day operations and give ‘business insights' and interpret the data to build the business.
The partnership will take IntelliVIEW to Agile's existing and potential customers across multiple industry verticals in
Manpower
“Being a small company with nearly 150 employees, we cannot stretch beyond a point in terms of manpower and investment to go global. It is better to partner with another company that is similar to us. Finally, it is a win-win situation for both the companies in partnering,” said Nagaraj L. Bhargava, Chief Operating Officer, Synaptris, which has over 2,300 customers across 80 countries and headquartered in San Jose, US.
“We help clients concentrate on their core competency of building the software solution by giving them a readymade framework. Our framework requires minimal coding to build an application, making it faster by 50-60 percent for clients. This approach enables customers to save time, effort and costs of building applications,” Raghunathan, Chief Executive Officer, Agile Labs, which has 40 employees, said without giving any financial details.
CA OPEN TO BUY LOCAL COMPANIES
Sumali Moitra, Kolkata
The Times of India (Kolkata edition)
Even at its peak, none of the acquisitions of erstwhile software major Computer Associates — which had become synonymous with M&As at one point — had ever included an Indian company.
But in its new avatar as CA, and with a chairman for its India operations who has spent long years as a venture capitalist, all that may be about to change at the Nasdaq-listed firm, which had to grapple with one of the biggest insider trading scandals in corporate America in the last decade.
“The then Computer Associates had always acquired product companies or those having some unique technology. At that point, there weren’t too many Indian companies around doing that as they were more engaged in services,” CA India chairman Saurabh Srivastava told TOI on Tuesday.
“However, with many Indian companies now doing a lot of work in the product and technology space, we are open to the idea of partnering and acquiring them, if need be,” he added, pointing out that firms engaged in the cloud computing arena are a possible area of interest for CA.
Brought on board CA India last year, Srivastava, though, was quick to clarify that there are no active acquisition deals on the table being pursued in the country currently. Significantly, CA India’s admission of its interest in acquiring local companies is the first time that the company has done so since it ceased being Computer Associates.
TATA ACQUIRES MOSAIC FROM BT
S Kalyana Ramanathan,
Mint The Financial Express Financial Chronicle
Tata Communications announced today an agreement to acquire the Mosaic business of the BT Group (formerly British Telecom).
Mosaic is a web portal-based on-demand digital media management platform that manages content and workflow from production to distribution across market ecosystems.
Details of the deal, including the acquisition cost have not been disclosed. The unaudited value of the gross assets that are the subject of this transaction was £0.5 million (Rs 3.7 crore) on September 30, 2009, a release from Tata Communications said.
The Mosaic business helps media customers improve cross-enterprise content creation, management and multi-format delivery. It is targeted at the entire spectrum of media customers encompassing production houses, emerging digital media publishers, content service providers, and TV channels, the company said.
"The acquisition of the Mosaic platform strengthens our global media and entertainment portfolio, with powerful cloud-based digital media management applications that can be accessed over the Web. This enhances our existing portfolio of services that we are offering to the media and entertainment sector" said Vinod Kumar, President and COO, Tata Communications.
SIMMTRONICS SIGNS GLOBAL PACT WITH IBM
New
The Statesman
Simmtronics Semiconductors Ltd has entered into a global agreement with IBM Corp under which IBM has authorised Simmtronics to pre-load its IBM Client for Smart Work software solution in the Simmbook on Ubuntu operating system. This includes Lotus Symphony office productivity software, which is made available at no charge to Simmbook customers.
The agreement was signed by Indrajit Sabharwal, managing director, Simmtronics Semiconductors Ltd and Kevin Cavanaugh, vice-president, messaging and collaboration, IBM Corporation at Lotusphere, Orlando, Florida, the USA.
Under the agreement, both the companies will execute a joint marketing plan and work closely on the sales opportunities for Simmbook with IBM Client for Smart Work on Ubuntu globally.
ZYLOG SYSTEMS EYES ACQUISITION IN CANADA
Mumbai
Business Standard Financial Chronicle
IT firm Zylog Systems today said it is eying acquisition in Canada and its board has given approval to go-ahead with the bidding process.
The board, at its January 9 meeting, approved "proposed acquisition in Canada and authorised the company to go ahead with the bidding process on the basis of the recommendation of the Merger and Acquisition committee", Zylog Systems Ltd said in a filing to the BSE.
"In the event of successful bidding, board has authorised the company to go ahead with the acquisition process,"it said.
MICRO TECHNOLOGIES TIES UP WITH ISRAELI COMPANY
Mumbai
Business Standard
Mumbai-based security solutions provider Micro Technologies (India) has entered into an agreement with Israel-based H.A.Sh Group System Services to provide security devices to the former, a top company official said.
"Within next two years, we will be able to do business worth $100 million with Israel," Micro Technologies Chairman and Managing Director P Sekhar told PTI today on the sidelines of a press conference.
We are launching the pilot for Safe and Secure City Project in collaboration with the Israeli company H.A.Sh group system services, which will start in next three months. We will provide the latest security devices and they will customize it and use it accordingly, he said.
This is the first time that an Israeli company with global operations is buying sophisticated security devices from India, he added.
The company will provide security for sectors like ports, coastal and container, transport, and infrastructure. The company will provide devices for personal identification and cyber security too, he said.
"We found Micro Technology products are superior in quality and cost effective. So we opt for them to provide security to Israeli Cities," H.A.Sh System Services Chairman Dan Romen said.
AIRCEL, INFY TO LAUNCH MOBILE APPLICATION STORE
New Delhi
Business Standard Financial Chronicle The Economic Times
Telecom service provider Aircel today entered into a partnership with software exporter Infosys Technologies to launch the first mobile application store in the country. A mobile application store is a service, which allows users to browse and download applications either for free or at a cost.
Apple pioneered the concept of application store for its iPhone users.
Infosys, the country's second-largest software exporter by revenue, will offer a platform — FLYPP — for Aircel's mobile application store, Aircel COO Gurdeep Singh told reporters here.
The application store will provide consumers greater choice for applications related to health, finance, entertainment, he added.
The IT firm is also in talks with other global and domestic service providers for the mobile application platform, Infosys Chief Operating Officer SD Shibulal said.
The company, however, did not give the financial details of the deal.
ADITYA BIRLA MINACS, NORTHSTAR IN DEAL TO PROVIDE WEALTH MGT
Bangalore
The Statesman Financial Chronicle Mint Deccan Herald
Business solutions company Aditya Birla Minacs has partnered with NorthStar Systems International, a provider of wealth management software solutions, to provide a total wealth management package.
This new solution combines Aditya Birla Minacs' integrated back and middle office with Northstar's fully integrated wealth management platform to create a service offering to seamlessly support wealth front offices in delivering a superior customer experience, a company release said.
