Indian IT trioka fit for Buffett's portfolio: S&P

NEW DELHI: The world's greatest investor Warren Buffett may have shied away from putting his money in Indian companies so far, but those fulfilling his investment criteria include at least three companies based here -- namely Infosys, Wipro and Satyam Computer.

Standard and Poor's, one of the world's biggest investment services providers that compiles a list of stocks meeting the legendary investor's appetite twice a year, has named the three of the biggest names in Indian IT space in the latest model portfolio.

The American Depositary Receipts of the three Indian IT giants have been named alongside global giants Microsoft, Oracle, Ericsson, Cisco Systems, Diageo, China Mobile and SAP.

Besides, the list also includes 3M Company, Altria, British American Tobacco, Mcgraw-Hill Company and Qualcomm.

Read more in The Economic Times

Wipro buys US firm for $600 mn

he deal is the largest overseas buy in the IT space

Wipro Ltd, the country’s third largest software exporter, today achieved the distinction of making the largest overseas acquisition in the information technology (IT) space when it announced the acquisition of US-based, Nasdaq-listed outsourcing firm Infocrossing for approximately $600 million (around Rs 2,430 crore) in an all-cash deal.

The acquisition will be conducted through a tender for all the outstanding shares of Infocrossing, followed by a merger of Infocrossing with a Wipro subsidiary. Institutional members have a majority holding (close to 10 per cent) in the company. M&A BYTES Major acquisitions by IT companies Date Target Name Acquirer Name Total Value 08/06/2007 Infocrossing Inc Wipro Ltd 600.00 07/06/2007 Unza Holdings Pte Ltd * Wipro Ltd 249.71 1/18/07 Syndesis Ltd Subex Azure Ltd 165.40 2/26/07 Lason Inc Hov Services Ltd 148.00 8/14/06 Mantas Inc I-Flex Solutions Ltd 113.00 2/19/07 Esys Technologies Pte Ltd Tele Data Informatics Ltd 105.00 10/31/06 Tks-Teknosoft Sa Tata Consultancy Services Ltd 80.37 * Unza is a consumer care company (in $ million) Source: Bloomberg

Wipro is making an open offer at $18.70 per share, which — if fully subscribed — will cost close to $600 million. Wipro currently has cash reserves of $750 million and expects to close this acquisition by December 2007. Read more in Business Standard

IT majors sit on growing cash mountain

The top five Indian IT firms have piled up net cash in excess of Rs 20,000cr.

Riding high on a booming economy and growing outsourcing opportunities, the top five Indian information technology players – Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies, Wipro, Satyam Computer Services and HCL Technologies – have piled up net cash in excess of Rs 20,000 crore.

The net cash figure jumped 31 per cent to Rs 21,148.42 crore in 2006-07 from Rs 16,151.36 crore in the previous year. Analysts estimate the figure to increase by 60 per cent in the current financial year.

The logic lies in the revenue and net profit numbers of these companies. For instance, the total turnover of the five companies for the 2006-07 financial year stands at Rs 57,397 crore — a jump of nearly 40 per cent over last fiscal’s number of Rs 41,033 crore. Read more at Business Standard