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November 1-15, 1999 COUNTRY BUZZ |
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COMPUTER BUSINESS Satyam Infoway Storms Nasdaq With a Bang
Amit Chandra, co-head, Investment Banking, Merrill Lynch, said the overwhelming response to the offering was borne by the fact that over 250 institutional investors participated in the offer apart from the strong retail response. The holding has been widely spread with more than 100 institutions being allocated the ADRs. The ADS issue, with an order book of around $2 billion, was oversubscribed approximately 27 times, making it the largest ever subscription for any Indian ADR/GDR offering. The ADR listing ceremony of Satyam at Nasdaq was received with great enthusiasm by US investors. Welcoming the listing, Frank G. Zarb, chairman and CEO of the National Association of Security Dealers Inc. (NASD) and the Nasdaq-Amex Market Group, which operates the Nasdaq, said, "The listing of Satyam Infoway on the Nasdaq will provide investors an opportunity to invest in a company with a truly global outlook. We welcome this addition to our market". Satyam joins the 420 non US-based companies listed on Nasdaq. Satyam Computer Services chairman B. Ramalinga Raju said the firm was proud to be associated with Nasdaq. "The listing provides Satyam Infoway the liquidity and the financial confidence to enhance the scope of service to its customers. We were overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response from global investors. Our listing on the Nasdaq marks a watershed in the history of the nascent Internet business in India," he added. Q2 Results Revealed, SW Boom Continues It's boom-time for infotech companies in India with not just the turnovers going up but also the profit shares showing a hefty increase. With the results ending September being declared, nearly all the IT majors have shown a tremendous upswing. Satyam Computer Services registered a 63.69 percent net profit growth for the second quarter this year at Rs 30.74 crore. The firm posted revenues of Rs 157.52 crore in Q2 (1999-2000). The global revenues of NIIT and its subsidiaries, which follows an October-September financial year cycle, reached Rs 880 crore, up 36 percent over the figure of Rs 648 crore in 1998-99. Infosys Technologies Ltd's net profit for the second quarter has increased by 130 percent to touch Rs 65.71 crore. Pentafour Software & Exports Ltd registered a Rs 173 crore turnover for the quarter ended September 30 as against Rs 118 crore in the corresponding quarter the previous year. HCL Infosystems, which follows a July-June financial year, has announced its financial results for their Q1 ending September 30. The company has reported a net profit before tax of Rs 16.7 crore on a turnover of Rs 228.7 crore.
Modis Inc., the IT services subsidiary of Modis Professional Services Inc., has announced its expansion in India. Modis are a global player in areas like Internet development and business intelligence. The firm's representative office in India will be located in Bangalore. Says G. Madhu, Modis representative and general manager for India, "Being located at the heart of the Indian infotech industry, Bangalore has an excellent communication channel." FEC Singapore Comes Under HCL Umbrella The consolidation phase continues at HCL Group. After HCL Infosystems Ltd (HCL Insys) acquired the assets of HCL Infosolutions and HCL Peripherals, and the customer support activities of HCL Office Automation, it has now announced that it has completed acquisition of FEC Singapore Pte Ltd. This outfit, earlier referred as Far East Computers (FEC), was set up by Ajai Chowdhary in 1980 before he moved to HCL Infosystems. FEC has been an associate company of the HCL Group with operations in Singapore and in the multimedia corridor in Malaysia. HCL Insys has invested Rs 6.78 crore in the acquisition. Underlying this move is the company's focussed strategy to map out a long-term and sustainable growth path from high-margin to high value-added IT services. Commenting on the acquisition, Ajai Chowdhary, president & CEO, said, "Growth of revenue from services is much faster than growth from pure hardware. Our plans extend the range and reach of services in fiscal 2000 include both organic growth as well as through acquisitions." US Health Major Invests in Hyderabad Firm
Says Vishweshwar Konda, the CEO, "MCBI people came to Hyderabad on a different purpose and happened to see our system in Apollo Hospitals. They immediately approached us for marketing the product across the globe. Later, after few initial discussions they decided to be a partner company rather than just be a marketing partner. Thus, came in the investment. Though this is just small investment, it is a beginning for us to look at the global market." PCs are Passe, Information Appliances are in
Sun's New Initiative to Support Indian SW
These include providing free access to both the source code of Sun's core technologies and to world-class software development tools as well as enabling technology transfer and offering access to global technology markets. The benefits that the member companies of NASSCOM can accrue are free company membership in the Sun Developer Connectivity programme and a reduced rate of subscription to the Sun Developer Essentials: free Java based software development tools; free access to the source codes of Solaris Operating environment, Sparc processor architecture, Java and Jini technologies and the Solaris software through the Sun Community Source code Licensing; free copies of StarOffice software; co-marketing assistance with partners participating in trade shows, software events, beta testing programmes and seminars worldwide. Sun's initiative will go a long way in establishing its market share in India. |
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The
listing of Satyam Infoway Ltd, one of the largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in
India, at Nasdaq recently points out to the rapid strides that infotech companies have
made in recent years. Market experts believe that at least 20 more Indian infotech
companies will be listed on overseas stock exchanges in the next 36 months. The price of
American Depository Receipts (ADRs) doubled on the opening day of offering on Nasdaq Stock
Exchange. According to initial reports, from the offer price of $18 per ADR, the prices of
Satyam Infoway, the second Indian company after Infosys Technologies, to be listed on
Nasdaq, were traded with the share touching a high of $47. The company has raised gross
proceeds of approximately $75 million by issuing 4.1 million American Depository Shares
(ADS) at a price of $18, where every ADS represents one equity share. 
Medical Centre of Boston
International (MCBI), a leading player in the area of telemedicine will invest $200,000 in
Hyderabad-based medical informatics company Citadel Health Ltd in a phased manner. MCBI
has already released the first phase of investment-$50,000-in Citadel for its R&D and
marketing. The agreement between the companies is to promote Citadel's flagship product
HIRePs (Healthcare Information Resource Planning System) in various countries. MCBI will
now market Citadel healthcare software products in the US, Europe and Middle-East
countries through its network. 
National Semiconductor
Corporation (NatSem) has launched first information appliance on a chip. National's Geode
SC 1400 is the first member of a family of silicon and system solutions under National's
new Geode brand. Says Martin Kidgell, vice president and managing director, Asia Pacific,
NatSem, "There is a change happening everywhere-from the age of computers to the age
of information; from PCs to information appliances."
Building on
efforts to make India an information technology player, Sun Microsystems and National
Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) have announced a programme to
support India's independent software developers. As per the announcement made by Sun
president and chief operating office Edward J. Zander, both will focus on raising the
potential of India's software industry through several initiatives. 
