Mascot Systems plans IPO in April

BANGALORE: Mascot Systems Ltd., the Indian subsidiary of $471-million US-based iGATE Capital (earlier Mastech Corporation), has filed for an IPO through the book building route with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

The company is issuing 30 million shares with a face value of Rs 4 per share. The company will issue 10 per cent, 30 lakh shares, of the equity to the public. iGATE Capital will hold 80 per cent stake in the company and the remaining 10 per cent will be reserved for employee stock option plan (ESOP). Kotak Mahindra Capital Company will be the sole book running lead manager to the issue. The company is planning to list its shares at the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange and the Bangalore Stock Exchange.

The company has not yet decided on the book building allotment details. Mascot Systems Ltd. chief financial officer K.S. Ananthanarayanan said the company was looking at various options. "We will decide about it within a couple of weeks," he said. The issue is set to open in the middle of April.

Mascot Systems Ltd., which is into e-business, custom solutions, application maintenance outsourcing and re-engineering areas, is mainly utilizing this funds to offer attractive ESOP and to part finance acquisitions and to support global infrastructure, said V Chandrasekaran, Managing Director, Mascot Systems. The business strategy of the company is to build relationship-based overseas development centres, onsite delivery, pursue e-commerce and Internet opportunities and pursue joint ventures and

acquisitions in order to get into vertical segments and access to markets.

Chandrasekaran said, " Our objective is to be among the top five software service companies in India. Over last six years, Mascot has grown leveraging global development centers, its proprietary solutions suite for distributed delivery, SmartAPPS, and a deep knowledge repository."

Mascot has development centers in Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. The company uses its proprietary solutions suite, SmartAPPS, as the framework for distributed deliver. Mascot has a presence in Canada, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, the UK and the US.