L&T Infotech, the technology arm of the engineering giant Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is scouting for acquisitions in the country and abroad to scale up its business operations. The company was earlier in the race to acquire the fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services (now Mahindra Satyam) and was also reportedly in talks with the country?s sixth-largest IT firm Patni Computer for an acquisition.
Sudip Banerjee, CEO, L&T Infotech told FE that the company is considering several Indian firms at the moment and could even go for a company which is bigger in size than its own. ?The fact that we wanted to acquire Satyam proves our apetitie for big-ticket acquisitions,? he said adding that scale and capabilities in new business models will be the two main drivers for the company?s inorganic growth path. According to the IT industry body rankings, the company is at the 11th position currently and has been wanting to climb up the pecking order for some time now.
Though Banerjee declined to divulge if the firm was in advanced stages of discussion with any particular firm he categorically said that the firm would not do a string of smaller acquisitions. ?Our appetite is a lot stronger and with L&T as our parent company funds is not a problem,? he said adding that there are several opportunities in captives units, carve-outs of bigger companies and stand-alone firms.
Meanwhile, the company, which has a run-rate of around $400 million (excluding revenues from L&T) is looking at tapping new markets like South Africa, Middle East, Europe and the domestic Indian market. ?We are soon going to open up a delivery centre in Belfast, UK,? he said. He said that Europe now contributes around 16-17% of its revenues and the company is looking at diversifying its presence more in new geographies. ?Financial services, IP creation are clearly the new thurst areas,? he added.
With the recovery in the overall market environment, the company is also reviving its IPO plans. However, he refused to give a timeline as to when it will hit the bourses. ?The plan was shelved due to the crash in the stock market and will have to again go through the entire regulatory procedure, which includes a board approval,? he added.