Alliances News: 12/2/10

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 India and outside. Captive units like AIG are also being looked at as prospective buys.

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 US and India. We will either completely acquire or pick majority stake in the target company,” Dr Ganesh Natarajan, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zensar Technologies, said.

“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 US as the pressures on costs. Stating that it had won deals for two firms of an insurance group there, he said it might strike deals for two more firms of that group. “Of the $100-million deal pipeline, we expect $15 million from this group,” he said.

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 South Africa contributed 12.5 percent of its revenues.

“We are expanding to Nigeria and Kenya and hope to increase the contribution from the region to Rs 130 crore from Rs 100 crore,” he said.

 

 

RADIFINITY ARM JOINS ADITYA BIRLA MINACS TO START NEW UNIT
Bangalore
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.”