Alliances News : 28/4/10

RELIANCE COMM, US FIRM TIE UP FOR APPLICATION STORES
Mumbai
Hindustan Times  Business Standard  The Statesman  

Reliance Communications Ltd, India’s No. 2 mobile services firm, said on Tuesday it had entered into a pact with Silicon Valley-based GetJar for mobile application services. Reliance will offer GetJar’s catalog of more than 65,000 free mobile applications to its GSM as well as CDMA customers, the Indian operator said in a statement.

India’s leading mobile firms such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance are launching online mobile applications stores, opening up a new revenue stream from add-on services such as music and social networking. Bharti said last month its mobile applications store had clocked more than 2.5 million downloads in its first month of launch, with users in smaller cities leading.

 

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 West Bengal.

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.