Blue Star in M&A mode

MUMBAI: It's M&A time for Indian companies. After biggies like Infosys and i-flex, it is the SME segment that is looking for strategic acquisitions now. Mumbai based Blue Star Infotech is one of them. The company has aggressive plans to grow following the M&A route and is also planning to foray into the BPO segment soon.

Blue Star Infotech MD, Pramod Bhalla said, "we have been growing at a healthy rate but now we are planning to grow rapidly and acquisitions is a part of that growth strategy."

The company is planning to acquire companies in the range of $10 million to $15 million, which would give it the expertise in banking and finance verticals and in implementation of SAP.

According to the company, this will also help it in grabbing the existing customer base of those companies. Declining to name the companies Blue Star is looking at for acquisition, Bhalla informed and that some of the acquisitions are in the final stages.

With India growing as a BPO hub, Blue Star also plans to foray into this vertical in the next twelve months. The company claims that it has positioned itself as a high quality, full services provider to medium sized enterprises in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific region and that makes the company an ideal choice for large companies who are looking at second vendor to derisk their offshore outsourcing.

The company, which specializes in travel, retail and marketing services and a technology vertical, provides solutions to BFSI segment too. According to the company, this adds to its inorganic growth. Now Blue Star is planning to aggressively target this vertical that in turn provides the much-needed boost to its bottomline. Telecom is another vertical company is planning to foray in. Currently, it provides embedded solutions to this vertical.

With a new facility coming-up in Bangalore, the company is planning to increase its headcount to 1,500 from the existing 800. The company also has facilities in Mumbai. With all these growth strategies, the company is expecting revenue of around $20 million this year. Last year, it had generated revenue of around $16 million. At present, technology contributes around 50 percent to its revenues and the rest comes from other verticals.

(CyberMedia News Service)