Leading Edge acquires eCapital

BANGALORE: Leading Edge Systems has announced its decision to acquire

eCapital Solutions with the issue of 73,50,000 fully paid-up equity shares to

the latter at a share-swap ratio of 1:1.






eCaptial president and CEO Suresh Rajpal, will be the chief executive officer of
the combined entity. Leading Edge will also consider increasing its authorized

share capital from Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore to enable the company to issue

preferentially 73,50,000 fully paid-up equity shares to eCapital Holdings,

subject to the requisite permission from the statutory authorities.






The merged company will have a locational advantage with access to both the US
and European markets, and complement the existing business portfolios of Leading

Edge and eCapital, i.e. telecom, retail/mail order, finance/insurance and

entertainment, a press release said.






"The combined entity plans to become a leader in the wireless and
e-business space," said Mr Rajpal. It is targeting revenues of over $100

million in three years from now. The press release said the merged entity will

combine the unique advantages of a highly trained resource base, and soon to

become SEI-CMM 3 certification and vertical markets of Leading Edge Systems

together with professional management, a high value long-term sales model,

high-level access and large European presence.






The merged company will have an immediate employee strength of 445 people in
facilities across eight locations in India, Germany, UK and US with one in

Finland being planned shortly in order to deliver information technology

offerings in CRM, telecom and entertainment sectors. eCapital's expertise in

wireless and e-commerce, with the onset of wireless application protocol as well

as some core Internet-based technologies including design of portals, will

significantly contribute to the combined entity, the release said.