Speedwing deal strategic: Kale

NEW DELHI: Kale Consultants will gain a range of new customers, products and

a strategic thrust from its acquisition of software product assets from British

Airways , its managing director said on Friday. "The event to us conveys

strategic momentum to the company," Vipul Jain said.

Kale has focused on the airline business to sell its software products and

services, and the deal with Speedwing, the British airline's consultancy arm,

has helped it gain intellectual property rights and customers.

Though the acquisition of Speedwing's products was worth less than £1

million, it would help Kale Consultants because new customers that it brought in

could buy the company's old products, while the old customers could buy the new

products, Jain said.

The acquisition would add four new airline-related software products,

including three in cargo and one in passenger traffic, to Kale's existing

product portfolio of five, and double the number of customers to around 40, he

said.

The products, so far used mainly by British Airways for its internal needs,

can now be leveraged for other airlines.

Kale is a rare product player among Indian software companies, most of whom

concentrate on offshore services for global clients.

The company's shares closed trading in Mumbai on Friday at Rs 124.5, up a

marginal Re 0.70 from the previous close of Rs 123.80 and well off its year's

high of Rs 814.95. The movement was in line with the flat overall trend on the

bourse.

Kale employs around 500 engineers spread over the cities of Mumbai, Pune and

Chennai.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.