Zensar Technologies buys US-based IT firm ThoughtDigital for $24.9 mn

Zensar Technologies has acquired the US-based ThoughtDigital and its holding company SOA Software for $ 24.9 mn. ThoughtDigital focuses on Oracle applications. The acquisition puts Zensar in a position to become one of the top 10 organizations for Oracle implementation globally. The acquisition will be funded through a mix of debt and internal accruals, with 60% coming from borrowings. The all-cash deal is structured with earn-outs to be paid over two years.

ThoughtDigital had revenues of $27 mn and an operating profit of $3 mn in 2006. It employs 120 Oracle consultants and its customer base includes firms like Gartner, Cingular Wireless, Primavera and USPS.

Read The Economic Times and Business Standard articles.

Shoppers' Stop, Nuance form airport retail JV

Shoppers’ Stop and Nuance Group AG have formed a joint venture to bid for contracts to set up duty-free retail outlets in Indian airports. The JV is among the five short-listed bidders for a contract to set up duty-free retail outlets at Mumbai international airport. In the airport retailing space India, with a projected annual passenger growth of 10.4%, is considered a strong growth potential market. Nuance with an annual turnover of $1.7 bin has a presence in 17 countries with 340 shops across 57 airports operating in duty-free core categories like cosmetics, liquor, chocolates and specialty stores like food and beverage outlets.

Read the Business Standard article.

SEBI bars Atlanta Infra, 15 others from capital market transactions for price rigging

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred 16 entities from selling or buying the shares of Atlanta Infrastructure, a construction and engineering company, for alleged price manipulation. These entities include the promoters of Atlanta as well as managing director Rajoo Barot and company secretary Sachin Jain.

The SEBI has also asked exchanges not to approve the listing of Atlanta’s convertible warrants and shares, till further directions. It also has asked depositories not to dematerialize convertible warrants and shares issued upon conversion and not to allow stock-split plans. The company had raised Rs. 85.72 crores by issuing convertible warrants at Rs. 317.50. At its EGM on February 16, the company approved 1:5 stock split and further raising of funds through foreign currency convertible bonds.

Shares of Atlanta, which were listed on September 25, 2006, have rose from its offer price of Rs. 150 to Rs. 1446 on January 17 a rise of 681% in 55 trading days. Sensing something fishy in the sudden spurt in its share price, the SEBI advised the NSE and the BSE to conduct a probe. The probe concluded that the Manish Marwah / Dilip Nabera Group, the Atul Shah Group and the Nirmal Khotecha Group made large scrip purchases during the period. It also said the employees, who were allotted shares, had immediately transferred the shares through off-market transactions, to persons connected with the company.

Read the article in Business Standard.

GIC, Deutsche Bank, L&T Infra submit bids for SICOM stake

Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and L&T Infrastructure have submitted their bids along with eight others with the Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SU-UTI) for acquiring its 40% stake in the State Industrial Corporation of Maharashtra (SICOM), the investment arm of the Maharashtra government. The tender invited by the SU-UTI closed in the second week of February and 12 parties have submitted their expressions of interest. Currently, the Maharashtra government holds 49% in SICOM, SU-UTI 36.5% and another 3.5% stake is held by UTI AMC.

ICICI Securities has been appointed as the merchant banker by SU-UTI for the stake sale. It will hold talks with the interested buyers soon. SU-UTI is also said to be in talks with the state government to offload its stake in SICOM.

SICOM has posted a net profit of Rs. 33.98 crores in 2005-06, up 69% from Rs. 20.15 crores in the previous year. SICOM offers advisory services to the state government, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission and other corporates. It is launching a second venture fund and would be soon offering merchant banking, treasury management and real estate development through subsidiary or joint ventures.

Read the Business Standard article.
Related Posts:
IFC, DEG planning to acquire a stake in SICOM
UTI to divest 36.58% stake in SICOM

MCX promoter Financial Technologies eyes stake in OTCEI, ISE

Financial Technologies, the promoter of the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), has shown interest in acquiring stakes in the Over the Counter Exchange of India (OTCEI) and the Inter-connected Stock Exchange (ISE). The company had recently applied to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) expressing interest in floating a separate stock exchange for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The company’s move to acquire a stake is seen as a step towards setting up an SME bourse. The OTCEI had placed Financial Technologies’ proposal to buy stake before its promoters and was awaiting their response. The ISE is expected to complete its valuation shortly, with the September 14 deadline for the completion of demutualization process approaching. Apart from Financial Technologies, a few other IT companies and private equity firms are learnt to have approached the exchange to acquire stake. The OTCEI is promoted by financial institutions such as UTI, ICICI, IDBI and LIC, while the ISE is promoted by 13 regional stock exchanges of Bangalore, Kochi, Jaipur, Bhubaneshwar and Mangalore, among others.

Read the Business Standard article.