Mascon, Maars call off merger

CHENNAI: Indian software services firms Mascon Global Ltd. and Maars Software

Ltd. have mutually decided to call off their planned merger citing unfavourable

market conditions, officials at the two firms said on Thursday.

The firms had announced in March that Mascon would acquire Maars in an

all-share deal, then valued at Rs 367.2 million ($7.79 million). "The

managements of both the companies have mutually agreed that the current market

conditions are not conducive for a merger and we have instead decided to work

together through business alliances," Maars director finance V Vedantham

told Reuters.

Mascon's chief operating officer G Balakrishnan said the two firms would now

work to synergise their strengths through loose alliances when bidding for

business or while executing specific projects. "We are comfortably familiar

with each other's business cultures and this will be to our advantage when we

work together," he added.

Mascon develops software for the financial services, telecommunications and

retail sectors and counts several Fortune 500 companies amongst its clients.

Maars, with over 500 employees, has niche expertise in ERP (enterprise resource

planning) consulting and has a strong presence in the European telecoms market.

Mascon shares were down 7.0 per cent at Rs 51 on Thursday afternoon at the

Bombay exchange, while the Bombay index was marginally lower by 0.76 per cent.

Maars' shares were up 4.14 per cent at Rs 15.10.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.