Patni eyes acquisition, to hire 4000 people
By agencies   |   Thursday, 06 April 2006, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: India's sixth largest software services firm Patni Computer Systems said it was actively scouting for acquisitions and wants to hike headcount by 4000 this year to drive its growth. "We would like to acquire companies whose revenues are roughly 10 per cent of Patni revenues. We would like to acquire companies with revenues of $45-50 million," Patni Executive Vice-President Mrinal Sattawala told reporters. Patni had revenue of $450 million in 2005. "We have an active merger and acquisition engine. We are looking for acquisition that offers growth opportunities," he said. He said the company has a four-member team to look at acquisitions and Patni would buy companies that either bring in new clients or capabilities. Sattawala said Patni was looking at opportunities in life sciences, retail and other verticals. Patni has $120 million in cash that would be leveraged for acquisitions, he said. Sattawala said significant opportunities for acquisition were coming in Europe and Patni was also looking at companies in other geographies. Patni acquired a small financial services company in 2003 and Cymbal in 2004. By the end of February, the company had 12,000 people.

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