IGate May Seek Merger With Satyam If Board Sells, Murthy Says
By Harichandan Arakali
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- IGate Corp., a U.S. based computer services provider with operations in India, may consider merging with Satyam Computer Services Ltd. if the software exporter’s new management seeks a strategic partner.
IGate could “help steady the ship,” Chief Executive Officer Phaneesh Murthy said in a telephone interview today. “We have a good strong management team, and I wouldn’t rule out the concept of a merger if somebody puts forward an interesting enough proposition.”
India appointed Deepak Parekh, chairman of Housing Development Finance Corp., and two directors to run Satyam after the company’s founder Ramalinga Raju was detained in the nation’s biggest corporate fraud. Raju’s admission he’d padded Satyam’s accounts wiped out $2.2 billion of investor wealth.
Murthy, who before iGate helped build Infosys Technologies Ltd.’s U.S. business, said he had been approached by “interested parties” after Raju last month abandoned a $1.6 billion bid to buy companies owned by his family. Raju last week said the sale was an effort to conceal the false accounting.
“The fact is that there were some people talking to me before this whole Raju stuff came out,” Murthy said. Fremont, California-based iGate had various contracts from clients that will help grow the merged entity, Murthy said.
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