More buyouts after Indiaworld dues payment: Satyam
(Tuesday, February 22, 2000)
Bipin Chandran in New Delhi
Satyam Infoway will finalise its second round of acquisitions once the company pays off its dues to Indiaworld.com. It is learnt that the company is talking to leading domestic portals for acquisitions.
"We are looking at some of the leading portals in the country. But the acquisitions or strategic partnerships will happen only after the payment for Indiaworld is complete," said B Ramalinga Raju, chairman, Satyam Computer Services Ltd.
He also said that the company is currently looking at strategic tie-ups and equity partnerships with portal companies.
On the completion of payment to Indiaworld, he said: "In any case we have time till June next year to make the payment for this."
Raju, however, refused to divulge the names of the domestic portal companies with which Satyam is holding parleys with for takeovers and tie-ups. "I don't want to comment on this now since the deals are not finalised yet," he added.
Satyam Computer is also learnt to be in talks with some of the domestic computer start-ups for either an equity partnership or technological partnership, or both.
"We are considering various cases and there are certain interesting companies we are in talks with. However, we are yet to finalise the course of action," he said.
"We are looking at companies which are key to our business growth," he added.
"Globalisation is a key part of our growth agenda. We intend to start more development centers abroad. This could be through inorganic growth," said Raju. The company currently has 30 development centers abroad.
Other than globalisation, Raju also said that, Satyam Computer will have an increased thrust on electronic commerce and related activities. "This is another area of thrust for us. We will have an increased focus on Internet and e-commerce," he said.
In addition, the company would open more development centers in other parts of the world. The company has identified, Australia, south-east Asia, Middle East and South Africa as the regions it would open development centers.
As part of its local development strategy, the company would open more development centers in the country. "The number of our development centers would go up from the current five development centers we have in India," Raju pointed out.
-The Business Standard |
