Bharti Telesoft looking for Aquisitions
After it acquired Jataayu Software last year, Bharti Telesoft is on the pr= owl again. The company is looking at acquisition opportunities in eastern E= urope and Latin America. Bharti Telesoft wants to buy mobile VAS firms with= niche technologies. The company is eyeing firms with a valuation of $20-10= 0 million.
The promoters =97 Bharti Enterprises, Sequoia Capital and Cisco Systems= =97 have already given their green signal to infuse additional funds in th= e company to finance the deal. Bharti Telesoft CEO Manoranjan Mohapatra sai= d that the company had formed a separate team to identify targets.
“We are scouting for an acquisition with a two-pronged strategy =97 to = grow our presence in eastern Europe and Latin America or develop technical = expertise in areas of mobile commerce and mobile entertainment. We have ide= ntified these as future growth drivers,” Mr Mohapatra told ET.
Bharti Telesoft had acquired Jataayu Software in December ‘07 to bolste= r its portfolio of internet and VAS applications for mobile operators and h= andset manufacturers. As a result, the company also made a headway into mar= kets like the US, UK, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. However, Bharti Te= lesoft’s primary focus has been the emerging markets.
“We are reasonably strong in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia= . Hence, we now want to acquire firms with a significant client base in eas= tern Europe and Latin America. We may even look at opportunities for a stra= tegic partnership,” Mr Mohapatra added.
The company claims to be among top three global providers of integrated= VAS solutions in emerging markets. Bharti Telesoft is also expanding its h= eadcount in its development centres located in Mumbai, Bangalore and the Na= tional Capital Region. The company currently employs 1,000-odd people in ap= plication development and plans to add around 300 people this fiscal.
It had clocked a turnover of Rs 200 crore in FY08 and is growing at 40%= . The company’s applications are aimed at increasing the operators’ average= revenue per user (ARPU) in emerging markets. This includes areas like mobi= le banking, mobile entertainment, e-recharge, SMS and roaming solutions, in= stant messenger and mobile internet. It is also eyeing the managed services= model where there is a revenue-sharing with the operator.
