Wipro eyes acquisitions to expand market presence

Monday, 18 November 2002, 20:30 IST
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DUBAI: Wipro chief Azim Premji said Sunday that his company was eyeing more acquisitions to expand its market presence globally. He told reporters here after visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar that Wipro had acquired four firms during the last six months. Wipro last week entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the global energy practice of American Management Systems for an aggregate consideration of $26 million, payable in cash. Premji arrived here from the U.S. after signing the deal. Outlining the company's outlook for the Middle East, Premji said: "Our vision is to be among the top 10 IT Services companies globally. The Middle East is a critical component of our global expansion strategy, with an IT services market, estimated to be worth US$ 5 billion and growing at a healthy rate. "I visited Dubai a year ago and have been personally impressed with the progress the country has made in IT infrastructure and services since. "I have met some of the country's government, business and technology leaders and have been happy to learn the importance the country is placing on this critical sector. We are proud to be associated with UAE." Wipro set up its Middle East operations headquarters in Dubai in June 2001 at Dubai Internet City. The company, which has about 50 highly skilled Wipro consultants in the region, has been steadily building a strong customer base regionally. The company has won several prestigious projects, including contracts from Dubai E-Government, Dubai Municipality, Riyadh Pharma, Saudi Polyolefins Company and Doha Bank. Wipro has also been recently chosen by Dubai Dry Docks as its IT Partner and will implement an Integrated Enterprise-wide Application across key organization functions including finance, production, technical, commercial and human resources. The project is in line with the global trend of outsourcing. It leverages on Wipro's 'Global Delivery' model, which means that the development of the project will be carried out from a Wipro development centre in Bangalore. In its continuous quest to offer higher value to its customers, Wipro recently launched its global IT Outsourcing practice, through which it offers IT Management and Consulting Services to customers. "The IT outsourcing practice is a conscious strategy to move up the services value chain. This will help our customers retain their focus on their core business," said Premji. Marking the first Research and Development outsourcing deal, Wipro recently signed a letter of intent to acquire software development resources, including software professionals, relating to Ericsson's Research and Development Centres in India. Premji said he believed that India had become a premier software-outsourcing destination to the world. According to him, a combination of skilled manpower, quality and value-for-money solutions had made India globally competitive. Wipro, India's largest IT company, has entered the Saudi Arabian market by announcing it has won contracts worth over 11 million Sauid riyals with some major companies in the kingdom's petrochemical and health care sectors. Premji said he hoped to pick up $15 million worth of contracts in the next 11 months. In Qatar, Premji said Wipro Infotech was keen to offer IT services to the local market. Having started operations in June 2001, in just under two years, it has built a strong customer base in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Source: IANS
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