Armed with a war chest of Rs 500 crore, Polaris Software Lab, the Chennai-based mid-cap financial software solution firm, is scouting for acquisitions to give the much needed traction to its business through the inorganic route. The company is looking at possible buyout opportunities in different verticals to ramp up its service offerings and geographical reach. ?M&A wing of the company will be looking at the targets that are highly aligned to the customer business in the industry?, R Srikanth, chief financial officer (CFO), Polaris told FE. However, citing confidentiality issues, he declined to comment on potential deal size and geographies in which the targets operates.
The Rs 1,700 crore Polaris has Rs 500 crore in cash and cash equivalent in its hand and had closed three buyouts in the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) space in the recent past, including Lasersoft, IndigoTX and SEEC. Lasersoft is a local financial IT company specializing in treasury management products, IndigoTX operates in the capital markets space, and the US-based SEEC offers Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based products to the insurance business.
According to Srikant, Polaris has only liquid and debt free firms in mind for potential buyout. He said the distinction that sets apart the company from big players is the functionality specification and SOA which offers capabilities like modular banking. ?The Indigo?s traction is quite good in Saarc countries and likely to clinch one or two deals. Other than treasury management, the Core Banking Solutions (CBS) from Lasersoft?s portfolio is bullish on PSU banks in India,? he said.
As of quarter ending June this year, the company has posted a net profit of Rs Rs 43.96 crore on a net sales of Rs Rs 339.33 crore.
