RAJ S Judge is Secretary of TiE and also Attorney at Law, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a technology law firm, based in Palo Alto. The firm specialises in working with venture capital backed startup companies and helps them grow right upto the IPO stage. The firm is in tune with the goings on as far as Indian companies planning IPOs in the US is concerned. In an interview with Kavita Nair, Mr Judge outlines the current trends as far as public listing of Indian companies in the US goes.What exactly does Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati do?
Startups need advice on how to grow and how to become a public company. That is what we are really doing. We understand how to raise money, how much money, how to go to the VCs, we understand what it is to have a good business plan, what it means to have a good management team. All of these things are what the startups do not have a good understanding of. So we work on that. Wilson Sonsini, is different from a traditional law firm in that it does not just do legal documents. We are just really a strategic partner, we are literally there from day one to the end of the company.What sort of Indian companies have lined up IPOs in the US markets currently?
We are working with several Indian companies considering IPOs, however we do not see any IPOs through until the end of this year. We will most likely see them coming out next year. Secondly traditionally there have been windows in the US market when you go public. I think we are going to see a few offerings in the next six months, probably a couple of more IT companies.
Some of the largest IT companies in India have already gone public in the US, and there are a couple of others such as Satyam and HCL among others that are definitely going public most in the next six months. You will probably see a few bio-tech companies, by which I mean pharma companies, going public 6-8 months.
What sort of pure Internet plays do you see going public?
From the US market perspective, I do not see any pure portals going public. That reflects what is happening the world over, it is not something that reflects the Indian market alone. We will see the Indian market most likely reflect a lot of what the US market is going through and that is consolidation. You will see acquisitions and larger players gobbling up the smaller ones. This is going to be the name of the game that is going forward. Most of the portals will not be able to stand on their own.
What you will see within the dotcom space are the content providers, the service providers on the one hand and the technology and the infrastructure providers on the other hand. The technology and the infrastructure providers which actually develop maybe broadband access technology, or other such technology are the type of companies that will be stronger, going forward.
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